Columbia taxes will probably go up to give police, firefighters yearly pay raises

There is a good chance Columbia property owners could pay more taxes in the coming year to fund pay raises for police, firefighters and other city employees.

An $8 per year tax increase per $100,000 owner-occupied home could be the key to a 2 percent cost-of-living pay adjustment for all city employees beginning in January, plus the start of a 3 percent yearly pay increase program for police and firefighters, which is aimed at improving employee retention.

“We have to sustain where we ought to be as a capital city when it comes to public safety,” Councilman Sam Davis said Tuesday at a council workshop. “Our pockets are being picked by other municipalities in terms of (employees) we’re losing.”

Councilman Howard Duvall added that city employees “need to have livable wages. ... And we can’t do that if we’re continually stressing the general fund with failure to take advantage of the revenue sources that we have.”

A majority of City Council members expressed willingness Tuesday to go along with the property tax increase, which effectively would cancel out a tax reduction the city implemented two years ago.

“I’m regretting it,” Councilwoman Tameika Isaac Devine said of the earlier tax cut.

It has been almost a decade since property taxes last went up in Columbia.

The proposed tax increase is expected to generate an additional $1.1 million for the city in the year that begins July 1.

Even while supporting a tax increase, council members were adamant in saying the city must find new ways both to increase revenue – such as charging some sort of fees for non-taxpaying, nonprofit organizations – and to reduce costs in one particular area: healthcare for city employees.

But at least one member of council is not fully sold on the possible tax increase.

“I’m still praying about it,” said Mayor Steve Benjamin, who previously has said he would oppose a tax increase. He is up for election this year. “If it’s clear that it is the only way to meet (Police Chief Skip Holbrook)’s request to provide the very best law enforcement services that our citizens deserve, then I will strongly consider it.”

A tax increase would come on top of likely increases to water, sewer and stormwater bills.

A public hearing on the city’s proposed budget for 2017-18, including the proposed tax, water, sewer and stormwater increases, will be held June 13, followed by council’s first vote. The final vote will be taken June 20 before the budget goes into effect July 1.

This story was originally published May 16, 2017 at 4:38 PM with the headline "Columbia taxes will probably go up to give police, firefighters yearly pay raises."