City Faces $163,000 Tax Revenue Loss

What do you say when you learn you’ll likely have less tax revenue to work with in your upcoming city budget than you had this year?

If you’re New Port Richey Deputy Mayor Bill Phillips, you question how officials measure taxable value in the city.

New Port Richey’s property value took a 4.2 percent plunge below last year’s, and that translates to a loss of about $163,260 in tax revenue available for the upcoming budget year, which starts Oct. 1.

Phillips said at Tuesday’s city council meeting he would like to understand how tax officials calculated the city’s taxable value.

“I’m not happy with four-and-a-half,” he said, referring to the value decline. “I would like to see where the values are. How they extrapolated those out.”

He wants to invite property appraiser Mike Wells to come talk about it, and he wants to see a breakdown of the figure. He wondered whether the appraiser’s office possibly was working off old information.

“I’d love to see what the methodology is and if there’s a way to appeal it,” Phillips said.

New Port Richey lost Community Hospital last year. It’s reportedly the city’s biggest taxpayer. It moved most of its services to Trinity, where it now does business as Medical Center of Trinity.

Councilmembers Jeff Starkey and Mayor Bob Consalvo echoed that sentiment. City finance director Doug Haag said he’d work to invite Wells to talk the council about property values.

Faced with a dire five-year deficit projection, the City Council last year decided to raise the city millage rate from 8.38 to 9.57 mills. It also raised the city’s stormwater and streetlight utility fees. Officials also laid off staff to balance this year’s budget.

Asked whether officials are looking at suggesting layoffs this year, interim city manager Susan Dillinger said she’s not one for laying off staff. She said department heads are in the process of crafting their budget proposals. 

She said that if the city does need to implement cost-cutting measures, capital purchases would be the first recommendation for the chopping block.

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