Berlin Town Hall
File photo

By Tara Fischer

Staff Writer

The Berlin Mayor and Council plan to keep the property tax rate flat for fiscal year 2026 at $0.8275 per $100 of a property’s assessed value.

The Berlin Mayor and Council met for a general fund budget work session earlier this week. While stagnant, the property tax rate will generate additional revenue for the town in FY26 from rising property values, said Zack Tyndall, the municipality’s mayor.

“This budget keeps the tax rate the same, and that’s at $0.8275 per $100 assessed value,” Tyndall said. “Keeping the tax rate the same will generate about $359,000 in additional revenue for FY26, which comes out to about a 7% increase from FY25.”

The tax rate yielded $4,563,392 last fiscal year. This year, the tax is projected to generate $4,922,500 in revenue, an 8% increase.

Berlin Finance Director Natalie Saleh opposes the council’s decision to maintain the tax rate. She argued the increase in property values, which will bring in more revenue even with a flat rate, is still not enough to keep up with rising costs and needs.

“We are advancing a lot from reserves to fund capital projects,” Saleh said. “It’s not a good practice to advance money from reserves and fund future capital projects … Most of the projects we see on the general fund and the utility sides are either a carried forward project funded from reserves or a new project which will be funded potentially from reserves.”

The finance director reiterated that the council should consider increasing the tax rate incrementally to ensure the town’s financial stability.

“We … pretty much rely on the real estate tax as revenue for the general fund,” she said. “I encourage you to rethink an incremental increase in the tax rate so that it will allow us to plan for a five- and 10-year capital plan in the future and be sustainable going forward.”

Still, the Berlin council remained, at least this week, committed to maintaining the same rate.

Tyndall says the FY26 budget draft is “balanced” at roughly $17.4 million. The mayor added that it is around a 22.45% increase from FY25.

“I know that seems like sticker shock,” Tyndall said. “But I want to draw your attention to some of the capital projects that caused that increase…there is $2.5 million for the town hall renovation…$216,000 for permanent restrooms at Stephen Decatur Park, which is grant funded, and $2.8 million dollars which is bond funded for a new public works facility. When you adjust that out, it’s really not a 22% increase.”

The budget includes a step increase for eligible employees as well as a 2% COLA, resulting in town employees seeing a 4.5% increase in their annual pay.