The City of Minot’s tax levy is taking a slight dip in the 2024 budget approved by the Minot City Council Monday.

Figures released by the city Wednesday show a tax of $539.69 on $100,000 in property value, down from $540.36 in 2023.

“We’re pleased we were able to slightly reduce the mill levy rate for the second consecutive year despite significant increases associated with the rising costs of equipment and supplies and the cost of keeping our employee wages competitive within the market,” City Manager Harold Stewart said in a prepared statement.

It’s a 67-cent decline, which when combined with mill levies of Ward County, Minot Park District and Minot School District will result in an overall $11.96 savings on each $100,000. However, many property owners may find their property assessments increased to more than offset the decline.

Although the 119.93 mills to be levied by the city is down 0.15 of a mill from 2023, the city expects to collect $1.33 million more due to increases in overall valuation. New properties on the tax rolls and changes in assessments on existing properties are impacting the overall valuation.

The city council approved a budget of $199.4 million, reflecting about a 9.2% increase. It requires a property-tax total of $28.52 million.

Property taxes will account for 14.38% of the total budget in 2024, compared to 14.88% in 2023. More than 86% of property-tax collections are used to fund public safety and street maintenance and repairs.

The adopted budget includes several capital improvement projects: flood control, Northwest Area Water Supply, airport stormwater and drainage improvements, Puppy Dog Coulee storm sewer district, Polaris Park watershed storm sewer district, rehabilitation of the former city hall building and 16th Street Southwest interchange improvements. Also, $8 million is to be set aside for street infrastructure maintenance.

City Finance Director David Lakefield informed the city council Monday that sales tax collections are trending ahead of projections for this year.

“We did increase our forecast for revenues for sales tax collections in the 2024 budget to $12 million per penny. That’s up from $11.5 million per penny,” he said.