Digging into the city council’s 2022 property tax increase
Episode 41 of “Citizen Watchdog with Todd Zinser,” discusses the increase in the property tax milage rate approved by the city council in 2022, just in time to maximize the tax revenues anticipated from the reassessment of property values hitting homeowners at the time. The council raised the rate to the maximum 6.1% and it has remained there since.
In putting Episode 41 together, I came across a motion submitted by Mayor Pureval on December 14, 2022, indicating how he intended to spend the increased tax revenues. The motion is posted below. I annotated the Mayor’s motion to show how his proposed spending ties directly back to the tax increase.
The motion also required a report from the Administration “on detailed funding and implementation of these programs before April 15, 2023.” (4 months to get it done)
On January 7, 2026, I submitted a records request for the report. Today, (2.11.26) the city responded indicating that no report was ever submitted to council. That has happened before on other reports, like the justification for closing CPD District 5.
The problem is that the council’s request is actually a request on behalf of the council’s constituents. It is just ignored and the council does not bother to follow up. It gives the impression that these types of request are just made for show.
Also, ICYMI, the Mayor and council missed the deadline for certifying a tax increase measure for the May 5th ballot. The deadline was February 4th.
