It may have been on the consent agenda, but the city’s 2022 budget passed the Manhattan City Commission by the barest of margins Tuesday night.
With a property tax increase of three-point-499 mills facing residents, commissioner Mark Hatesohl opened the discussion by saying he was voting no on the budget after agreeing to the increase previously.
Mayor Wynn Butler concurred, making clear he doesn’t think enough line-by-line work was done in preparing the budget.
Commissioners Aaron Estabrook, Usha Reddi and Linda Morse were the three votes to carry the measure that will raise property taxes by three-point-499 mills for next year.
Butler again made clear he doesn’t agree with the blaming of outside agencies for the increase.
Reddi, though, expressed her belief that city staff needs some help from the commission, whether financially or with finding ways to ease their day-to-day work efforts.
Approximately two mills of the three-point-499 increase next year goes towards the city’s share of agreements with the Riley County Police Department and Manhattan Public Library.
