HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The Hutchinson City Council came to a consensus that due to the slight drop in property valuations, the mill level will have to increase by a fraction to keep the budget at this year’s level.

The council will ask for a .31 mill increase for 2020. “ It’s pretty much a revenue-neutral from the property tax revenues that we received for 2019, we’ll receive in 2020,” City Manager John Deardoff said. “ To get to that point we did a lot of work…well over $2 million worth of cuts from proposed budgets to get to that number.”

With that increase, the average tax bill for a $50,000 home would go up $1.79 for the year. The council did agree to add another $10,000 to the Chamber of Commerce budget raising their funding to $210,000.

The Council hopes to set a public hearing date on the budget during their first meeting in August.