Fairfield Hospital District (FHD) approved a lower tax rate, and a leaner budget, to benefit tax payers for the 2020-2021 fiscal year.
Members of the board voted to set a tax rate of $0.185 cents per $100 taxable value.
This rate is 3 cents lower than the previous tax rate, which translates to a 14 percent reduction.
“It was the desire of the FHD Board to minimize the impact of higher [property] values by compressing the tax rate,” said Administrator Tony Price.
The Hospital Board also requested a leaner budget.
Working with Freestone Medical Center (FMC) leadership, Administrator Price relates developing an approved budget that will require less total property taxes than last year’s budget, by an amount of $343,228.
It is important for voters to understand that the FHD upcoming Rollback election is only related to the 2019 tax rate, and does not influence the newly approved 2020 tax rate.
According to Price, the 2019 taxes have already been collected, so property owners are currently only obligated to pay 2020 taxes at the $0.185 rate.
Real life example:
Local citizen Mr. Bald Eagle has a 2020 taxable value of home in Fairfield at $101,191(his value was $91,081 in 2019). In 2019 he paid Fairfield Hospital District tax $195.82 after legal exemptions. This year, the tax obligation on $101,191 Fairfield Hospital tax would be $187.20: (without compressed tax rate to $0.185 the cost would have been $217.56).
This is a total Hospital District tax cost of $187.20 /year ($15.6/month or $0.51/day).
For 51 cents a day, Mr. Bald Eagle can provide support to maintain and expand Freestone Medical Center, including the hospital, ER, and Rural Health Clinic.
