The Town of LaSalle will increase the municipal tax rate by 5.48% in 2024.
Town council approved the hike at Tuesday's meeting, in a 5-2 vote.
Staff originally proposed a 6.85% tax rate for the upcoming year. After budget deliberations in December, council directed staff to bring back a report outlining tax rate increases of both 5 and 5.5%, including a detailed listing of the reductions being proposed at each rate.
In order to get to down to the current rate, staff suggested deferring hires planned for 2024 when possible, reducing annual strategic plan contributions and reducing the annual LaSalle Landing master plan contribution by $100,000. Staff's report noted that the proposed increases will eventually need to occur to maintain the Town’s current levels of service.
Some members of council wanted a further reduction to the 5% rate, but Mayor Crystal Meloche said that when you look beyond the percentages, the cost of reducing to that level doesn't save taxpayers much, and could hurt the town in the future.
"I'm not sure, if we talk real numbers if our residents would look at us and say we're making a mistake by going to that percentage, because at the end of the day, that's not a lot of money per person, but it is going to be a huge effect to the Town of LaSalle if we take this big hit," she said.
The 5.48% tax rate means the annual impact to the average household would be $154.47. Had council stayed at the 6.85% rate, the cost would be $193.42; while the 5% rate would've been equaled $141.04 annually.
