The Flowery Branch City Council Thursday evening heard from city finance officials on the fiscal year 2024 budget, which sits over 17% higher than last year’s budget.
Property tax revenues on new and improved properties for the City of Flowery Branch are estimated to increase by approximately $290,202. A reassessment of existing real property is predicted to increase city revenues by $624,190. Other major revenue sources presented Thursday evening included a local option sales tax of 12%, a title ad valorem tax of 3% and franchise taxes of 12%.
Expenditures for the city start with an increase in personnel salaries, with a 4% increase attributed to a cost-of-living adjustment and a 2% increase for merit-based employee raises. Additionally, the city plans to add one new position in human resources, four new positions with the police department, one position in city planning and one position in public works.
The city is also set to transfer $858,000 to capital projects for the Flowery Branch community, including road paving, land acquisition, sidewalk improvements and the second phase of the downtown development.
The general fund budget is seeing an increase of 20% over FY 2023, sitting at $8.754 million.
The tax dollar breakdown for citizens in Flowery Branch splits into seven different categories. 31 cents of every tax dollar will go toward public safety while 21 cents will go to general operations. 17 cents of every tax dollar will be used for public works, 12 cents for housing and development, 10 cents toward the general fund capital, three cents for municipal court and six cents for tourism.
The FY 2024 budget was established based on the 2023 millage tax rate for Flowery Branch residents, which will stay the same at 3.264, according to Finance Director Matthew Hamby.
The response times for police and public works in the city has reportedly declined as a result of community demands and high levels of growth, which presents a need for additional staff. Additionally, rapid population growth in Flowery Branch means officials have more demand for quality services and improvements to public city areas like sidewalks and roads. The combination of these hurdles is stated as the primary reason the millage rate will stay the same, rather than decrease.
For a home valued at approximately $400,000 with a traditional homestead exemption in place, the total difference between a full rollback tax bill rate (2.677 mils) versus the millage rate of 3.264 comes out to $83.35 annually, according to documents provided by the city.
Flowery Branch has the lowest millage rate in the surrounding area as of the last report. Cities and counties in the surrounding area are currently solidifying their millage rates. Hall County plans to vote on its budget and millage rate at a meeting on June 21 at 6 p.m. in the Hall County Government Center.
Prior to the final vote of approval for the Flowery Branch FY 2024 budget and millage rate Thursday night, city officials hosted a third public hearing. No one spoke for or against matters pertaining to the budget.
The total overall budget for FY 2024 will sit at $30,748,327, which is a 17.32% increase from FY 2023.
