On September 11, 2018 the Albion City Council adopted a balanced budget for the eleventh year in a row, while reducing the overall Albion levy by 8 percent.

City Levy Reduction

While year-to-year operation costs can fluctuate due to various factors, significant factors that created the opportunity to reduce the property tax asking and levy rate are:

• A significant increase in overall taxable valuation due to real property growth which includes new construction and improvements to real property;
• Favorable cash reserves due to sound fiscal planning, conservative budget execution; and,
• Receipts of reallocated revenues from the voter-approved ½ cent sales tax renewal approved in 2016.

Capital Improvement Plan

As part of the budget adoption process, the City Council also approved and adopted the 2018-19 Capital Improvement Plan which prioritizes various City Capital Projects.  Significant projects in the Water and Parks departments are planned for 2018-19.  To view more details about these and future projects:

Click this link – “2018-2019 City of Albion Capital Improvement Plan“. 

The basic breakdown of how public revenues are utilized by the City are as follows:

1. Utility user fees finance the operation and maintenance costs of each respective utility department as well as any utility capital projects, including debt service for such projects;
2. Sales Tax revenues are used for capital projects, street improvements, water tower debt, swimming pool debt, and economic development; and,
3. Property Tax and Business Occupation Taxes are used to finance the operation and maintenance budgets for all city government service departments such as administration, street, park, pool, library, airport, police, and fire protection.

To view more details about the City fiscal system and budget considerations for the 2018- 2019 fiscal year (October 1, 2018 – September 30, 2019):  Click this link – “2018-2019 City of Albion – Budget Narrative“.

Various Public Financial Reports and other documents are available at the City Government page of the AlbionNE.com website.