By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff
NORTHFIELD — City Council was expected to adopt its municipal budget Tuesday, April 20, with a flat tax rate, lower spending and a lower tax levy.
The $13,294,026 spending plan is $96,853 less than in 2020 and the amount to be raised by taxes is down $24,143 to $8,418,277.
The tax rate would remain at 96.8 cents per $100 of assessed value, or $968 per $100,000. Last year in Northfield, where the average home price was $223,355, the average tax bill was $7,477.
The municipal portion of this year’s tax bill would be $2,162 on the average-assessed home.
The school tax made up 55 percent, or $4,112, including the local and regional districts. This year the school tax rate would increase from $1.224 in 2020 to $1.235 per $100 of assessed value, or $1,235 per $100,000. If approved as proposed, the local school portion of this year’s tax bill would be $2,758, up $25.
The regional school portion of Northfield’s tax rate is set to drop by 1.7 cents per $100 of assessed value to 72.3 cents. The bill on an average-assessed home would be $1,615.
The county portion of the tax bill is expected to increase 1.8 cents to 49.3 cents per $100 of assessed value, or $493 for each $100,000. That would equate to $1,101 on an average-assessed home.
The total tax bill on an average-assessed home would increase $159 to $7,636. The increase is almost exclusively attributable to the continued loss of property values. The city’s total assessed value, $869,648,060, dropped more than $2.6 million this year even with $3.2 million added.
But that loss is much less than in years past and appears to be stabilizing in Northfield and in most of the surrounding towns. The city has lost an average of $12.3 million per year since its last revaluation in 2010, realizing a total loss of $123 million in that time.
Under the city’s 2021 budget, the city will use $1.392 million in surplus, or 56.57%, leaving $1,068,788.
Local aid fell by $182,640 to $19,961,520, while state aid remained the same at $632,386.
Employee salaries and waves increased again for 2021, rising $119,517 to $4,172,627, or 31% of the budget.
Capital spending is down for 2021 by $175,000 to $232,500.