The Newberry City Commission adjusted its proposed millage rate from 6.0 to 5.9 at a regular meeting on Monday and approved a tentative budget. 

The tentative budget presented for 2024-25 includes $32,116,288, with a reserve of $14,314,055 for a total appropriation in the amount of $46,430,343. Had the City Commission moved forward with the 6.0 rate, staff would have increased the amount, according to Newberry’s assistant city manager and chief financial officer Dallas Lee. 

The 5.9 rate is the same as last year’s rate, and the budget is balanced at that rate, according to staff. It is a 9.84% increase over the rollback rate of 5.3721 mills, which would produce about the same amount of money as last year. 

The 6.0 rate would have produced an additional $80,000, according to staff, and was approved tentatively at a July 22 meeting based on discussions over an even higher rate that could be used to issue a 30-year debt service to pave SW 46th Avenue or another road project. 

After a citizen asked about the possible increase at Monday’s meeting, Mayor Jordan Marlowe said the city is not pursuing that option. 

“I don’t know where the ‘going on a referendum’ came from, but… you always set it high so you can reduce it low, ‘cause you can’t go the other way,” Marlowe said. 

The City Commission is still considering putting out a referendum for the community to vote on a way to fund multiple roadway projects, according to Marlowe earlier in the Monday meeting. As part of that consideration, the commission received a presentation on road conditions at the beginning of the meeting. 

Staff estimated a cost of about $82,512 per mile if the commission chooses to chip seal a road, and $1.98 million per mile if it opts to pave the roads, recommending a workshop for the City Commission to direct staff which treatment it wants for different roads. 

In addition to the overall budget and millage, the commission unanimously approved several changes to utility rates. 

Residential electric rates are to be adjusted by about 1.5%, for an average residential impact of $1.81 per month, and a similar rate adjustment for non-residential rates. 

The Florida Municipal Power Agency has projected a lower fuel cost for FY2025, which staff said will cause a lower power cost adjustment, offsetting the customer rate increase. 

Newberry will raise its wastewater rates by 9.5% in consumption charge and the regular customer charge, with an average residential impact of an additional $6.80 per month. 

Water rates are to rise by 6% on the consumption and regular customer charges, for an average residential impact of an additional $2.07. 

Fire assessment rates are to remain the same as last year, except for a slight decrease in institutional rates. The commission had tabled fire assessment rates in late August because of a single data set that was spiked because of a particular non-compliant business, skewing results. 

The recommendation over the summer was to drop institutional rates from 23 cents per square foot to 6 cents per square foot, and to raise the industrial/warehouse rate from 3 cents per square foot to 25 cents per square foot. 

After citizen pushback, the commission tabled the fire assessment at a second reading and staff rectified the recommended fees to fit typical circumstances. 

The city’s development fees are also set to increase in steps, in order to support the $100,000,000 in projects over the next several years necessary to support development in the community, including a new water tower and expansion of Newberry’s wastewater treatment facility. 

Marlowe said the fee hike is largely caused by new state requirements that mean Newberry must turn its wastewater treatment plant into an advanced treatment plant, the cost of which is out of reach. 

City Manager Mike New said the city has received $3-4 million in appropriations for the project from Tallahassee over the last five years and has raised $14 million in grants, but the cost of construction has gone up by $10 million each year. 

The City Commission also directed staff on Monday to bring back a resolution as part of the final budget hearing, to increase the city manager’s purchasing authority, and the corresponding competitive bid threshold, from $25,000 to $100,000. 

If passed as part of the budget, this change will not only allow the city manager to make decisions on purchases up to $100,000 but will also allow vendors to submit only written quotes for projects up to the same amount, as opposed to the sealed competitive bid they must submit for anything over the set amount. 

The final hearing for Newberry’s budget and millage is set for Sept. 23.