City tax warrant approved by council

The City of Milford approved a tax warrant to collect just over $5.6 million in property tax this year

Under Milford City Code, the mayor and the city clerk must officially sign a tax warrant authorizing the city to collect taxes in all four wards. The tax warrant must state information about the tax rate, assessed values and the amount of tax to be collected.

“Under the city charter, we have compiled the tax warrant which authorizes us to collect taxes in the four wards,” City Manager Mark Whitfield said. “This authorizes us to collect $5,606,411 in property taxes.”

The warrant states that property assessment values per billing register in the City of Milford total $1,386,738,152 and that there are $351,283,041 in exemptions to property tax collections. This brings the total assessed value of property in the city to $1,035,455,111.

The tax rate for 2024 is $0.05460 and there are senior citizen discounts of $47,174 in the city. Therefore, with the tax warrant signed, the city is now authorized to collect just over $5.6 million in property taxes.

Council approved the tax warrant unanimously.

In addition to the tax warrant, council also approved an easement for Chesapeake Utilities to add an additional parallel gas line to serve the southern end of the city. The new line required an easement through Marshall Pond Park and provide service to the two elementary schools in the area.

“Because they want to have the line in before winter, I agreed to bring this before council to procure the easement in order to expedite the process,” James Puddicombe, City Engineer, said. “We cannot currently find easement documents, and neither could Chesapeake. They have agreed to take the lead on procuring the easement on behalf of the city and then through those back properties.”

Council approved the request unanimously.

In their final action of the evening, council also approved the lease agreement with Milford Community Gardens for an additional five years. The gardens are on the former Milford Armory grounds. Council approved that request unanimously as well.