The Grand Forks Park Board is voting on its final 2015 budget Tuesday, after setting a preliminary budget with a 0.61 mill levy decrease last month.
With the 0.61 mill decrease, the total amount of money the Grand Forks Park District will take in from property taxes will increase by 9.34 percent, or about $620,000, compared to last year, as opposed to the 10.99 percent revenue increase that would occur with no change in the mill rate.
As property values have increased the past year, the value of a mill, which is the unit used to set the property tax rate, has increased. The city of Grand Forks approved a 7.23 mill decrease last month, and the Grand Forks School Board approved a 7.78 mill decrease last week.
The Park District took in about $6.6 million total in property taxes in 2014. With the 0.61 mill decrease for 2015, the district will take in about $7.3 million in property taxes.
The additional tax dollars will mostly go toward utility fees increased by the city and the Park District’s new parks in recently-developed south Grand Forks neighborhoods, said Jay Panzer, Park Board president. City code requires park land in all new developments, he said.
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“I think 0.61 will be the final number,” for the mill decrease, Panzer said.
Park Board member Paul Barta agreed, adding the Park Board wants to make sure it has the funds it needs for Grand Forks’ continuing and expected growth.
“We just don’t want to go up and down and up and down,” with the mill rate, he said.
The Park District’s final 2015 budget meeting is 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Park District building.
