L
ynchburg City Council's meeting ran late into the night, with a contentious discussion about the city's property tax rate. Councilman Chris Faraldi proposed that staff create a budget showing what would happen if council members Misjuns, Diemer, and Timmer got their way on lowering the rate. He wanted to know how this change would affect the city's finances.

    Councilman Martin Misjuns expressed skepticism about the staff's ability to meet this request in a timely manner, citing past examples from this year. This led to disagreements among council members, which you can see in the video above.

    Despite the bickering, the council passed a motion 4-3, directing staff to create a budget with a tax rate of 76.7 cents per $100 of assessed value. Councilman Misjuns explained that this rate is the equalization rate, preventing an overall increase in property taxes for the city's real estate. The current rate is $0.89 per $100 of assessed value. Staff has until July 1 to develop this budget request for the council.