City sets proposed tax, public hearing

The city of Graham set a proposed tax rate Wednesday which is unchanged from the previous tax year. A public hearing will be held Thursday, Sept. 8 on the proposed tax rate of $0.605 per $100 valuation.

The proposed tax rate and public hearing was set after approval from the council members at a special-called council meeting Wednesday. Mayor Neal Blanton and Council Members Alex Heartfield, Shana Wolfe and Randy Cantin approved the proposed rate, while Councilman Jack Little denied the motion. The public hearing will be held at 6 p.m. at the Graham Visitors and Business Center at 608 Elm St.

The proposed rate does not exceed the voter approval rate of $0.68017 per $100 valuation, which if exceeded would trigger an election for voters to accept or reject the proposed rate. The proposed rate exceeds the no-new revenue rate of $0.529787 per $100 which would raise the same amount of property tax revenue for the city of Graham from the same properties in both the 2021 tax year and the 2022 tax year.

The total tax levy on all properties within the taxing district of the city of Graham increased 15.1% from $2,216,198 to $2,550,855. The average homestead taxable value increased from the previous tax year by 11.73% from $103,767 to $115,940. The taxes on an average homestead property increased 11.8% from the previous tax year from $627 to $701.

For the full story, see the Saturday, Sept. 3 edition of The Graham Leader.