The 4.9% levy increase proposed in September was lowered by another 1% from the preliminary levy, with total proposed expenditures slightly less than in 2024.
The Pope County Board of Commissioners adopted its final budget and property tax levy for 2025 at its regular Board meeting on December 17, agreeing to reduce the rise in the levy to 3.9 percent, one percent less than preliminarily proposed in September.
After a careful review of requested expenditures by County management and outside entities, consideration of the Board’s prior preliminary budget and levy adopted in September, and updates from County management on the County’s financial condition, the Board adopted a final property tax levy for 2025 of $10,992,107, which is 3.9% greater than the $10,579,506 levy approved for 2024. The Board elected to mitigate the amount of levy dollars raised with a controlled, limited use of general fund balance reserves in the amount of $260,915, down from the budgeted use of reserves of $535,611 approved in 2024.
The final adoption decision was the result of a six-month-long budget process, which included numerous budgetary meetings and reviews, as well as the County’s annual Truth-in-Taxation Hearing with members of the public on the evening of Thursday, December 5.
The total final Pope County expenditure budget for 2025 was set at $20,989,810, with the portion of the budget not funded by property tax levy funded by program revenues, County Program Aid, and a limited amount of funding reserve. This is a slight decrease from the expenditure budget in 2024 of $21,086,114.