Nixon proposes 31.55 cent tax rate, adopts fiscal 2026 budget

Nixon City Council adopted a fiscal year 2026 budget which calls for $4,676,917.57 in expenditures and proposed a tax rate of 31.55 cents per $100 valuation at their regular meeting Monday, Aug. 18.

Councilmembers also adopted a revised animal control ordinance and approved a lease with Frontier Communications for improved phone and internet services which locks in the rate for a five-year term.

The proposed tax rate is equal to the no-new-revenue rate, which is the tax rate for the 2025 tax year that will raise the same amount of property tax revenue for the city from the same properties in both the 2024 tax year and the 2025 tax year. The maintenance and operations rate is 21.88 cents while the debt service rate is 9.67 cents.

City Administrator Darryl Becker told the council that while the city could have gone up to the voter-approval rate of 33.07 cents, he believed the city would operate smoothly by adopting the no-new-revenue rate.

“The tax rate of 31.55 is actually lower than what it was last year and I want us to work really hard this year, to be financially responsible, transparent, be some good stewards of our tax dollars,” Becker said. “I believe going forward, I'd like to look more to promoting growth that raises our tax base. Council, let me try to make it through the year on lowest tax rate we can pass.”

A public hearing was held on the budget prior to the meeting but no one spoke during the hearing and there were no residents in attendance. The budget calls for general fund revenues of $2,566,770 against expenses of $2,565,534.21 for a net profit of $1,235.79. In fiscal year 2025, the council had adopted a general fund budget with a $114,742.06 deficit and through year to date, the city is operating at a $551,166.49 deficit comparatively and has cut expenses due to a decrease in revenue.

In fiscal year 2024, the city had set a budget which called for a net profit of $84,051.62 on the general fund side, but ended up the year with a $669,909.72 deficit as revenues did not materialize to projections and expenses increased by more than $370,000.

On the utility side of the budget, the fiscal 2026 budget calls for a nearly balanced budget with $2,112,125 in revenues and $2,111,383.36 in expenses for a net profit of just $741.64.

The animal control ordinance calls for owners to get their pets registered with the city for $5 each and again sets out that homes may not have more than two dogs per household — something that has been in place since at least 2008 but has been loosely enforced, Code Enforcement Officer Don Watt said.

“I just want you to be aware of that going forward,” Watt said. “We have many different homes with multiple dogs, dozens of dogs out there. We have to get a handle on these dogs. We've gotten two dog bites I'm aware of right in the past month and a half and it's only going to get more frequent until we get a hold on these dogs around here.

“(Public works director) Jeremy (Bustos) doing everything he can picking up all the dogs and I pick up dogs and we’re probably going to need some facilities one of these days to house them, but in the meantime, until a dog is a public nuisance or bites, we're not going to pick them up until that point because we just don't have time.”

Questioned about the number of allowed dogs being just two, Watt said “I’ll never go inside your home, but it’s been an ordinance for years but we have not enforced it.”

“I mean, drive around Nixon, how many house do you see with three or four dogs running around?

We can't continue to let this happen,” Watt said.

City Attorney Eddie Escobar said the language in the ordinance was changed from shall, which is more directive to the city to act, to may, which means the city has permission to pick up stray dogs if they become a nuisance.

“The ordinance addresses more than just dogs. It addresses cats. It addresses all different types of animals,” Escobar said. “There was shall language in the original version of the ordinance with regards to the impoundment of animals, but due to there not being current facilities to house cats or horses or whatever the animal may be, it was changed to may language.”

Watt said pet owners will be responsible for coming to the city, filling out a registration form and picking up a tag for $5 and pets must have a tag with current rabies vaccination information on their collar at all times if outside. The new policy goes into effect on Oct. 1.

The new contract with Frontier Communications is expected to help stop calls from being dropped at City Hall and improve the internet broadband width for employees to be able to do their job, Finance Director Melissa Pompa said.