The Oxford Board of Aldermen and the Lafayette County Board of Supervisors each approved their 2024-2025 budgets on Thursday.

With no increase in the millage rate from Oxford, the budget was approved without opposition during a recent public hearing.

The city mill rate will remain at 32.65. The Oxford School District mill rate is 61.51 – the same as the 2024 fiscal year – making the total millage rate for city residents 94.16 for the upcoming fiscal year.

The fiscal year for the city and county runs from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30.

The supervisors held their public hearing on Thursday before voting to approve their budget.

The budget includes a 2 mill increase in the ad valorem tax millage rate – from 35.51 to 37.51 mills for the next fiscal year. The last increase was in 2021 when the millage rate went from 34.51 to 35.51.

About 30 folks attended the meeting on Thursday. Several spoke out against the tax hike, saying it would cause hardship to property owners. Some suggested the Board should look at more ways to reduce spending rather than increasing the rate.

However, most people attending the meeting spoke out to the Board about another increase.

The Board of Supervisors is proposing an $8 rate hike on trash collection bills, going from $12 a month to $20 a month for all county residents. The supervisors said the amount had not been increased in 10 years and that the increase was necessary to get the Solid Waste Department operating in the black.

Board president and Supervisor Brent Larson said the Solid Waste Department has been operating at a $600,000 deficit that has had to be covered by funds from the general budget.

Several residents said that while they understood a need to increase the monthly bill, it should have been done slowly, $1 or $2 a year, rather than all at once. Others said they were upset that they had very little warning about the increase and that there was insufficient notice to residents.

The board will vote on whether to adopt the ordinance change that would raise the Solid Waste bills to $20 on Monday during their regular meeting. If approved, the rate increase will go into effect on Oct. 1.

Larson also pointed out that if customers choose to pay for a year in advance, and do so before Oct. 1, they would pay the $12 a month.

The approved Lafayette County budget for FY2025 projects a total revenue of $141,457,488, with 29% or $41,266,440 expected to be financed through an ad valorem tax levy. This marks an increase from the current fiscal year, where 26% or $37,846,355 of the total budgeted revenue of $143,272,771 was funded by ad valorem taxes.

The Lafayette County School Board did not increase the ad valorem tax millage rate for FY2025. The rate will remain at 68.70 mills.