Fairbury announces decrease in city tax levy rate

FAIRBURY, Neb. - As part of the budget for the upcoming fiscal year that was approved earlier this week, the Fairbury City Council voted Tuesday to decrease the city tax levy rate. It's a significant cost-saving boon for owners of homes and businesses in the city.

According to a Wednesday post from Fairbury Mayor Spencer Brown, the levy rate has dropped from .694447 in 2023-24 to .415870 in 2024-25 - that's a decrease of 40.11%. 

Using the example in the post, an individual, family, or business that owned a property valued at $100,000 in 2023 would have paid $694.45 in city taxes last year, and if there were no changes to the valuation of that property, that owner would then have paid $415.87 in 2024.

But, the valuation of those properties did change, to the tune of an increase of more than 30 percent [note: the mayor's post says it's a 32% increase from last fiscal year to this, but the attached document indicates it's a 37% valuation increase from 2023 to 2024. This article assumes the 37% figure to be the correct one; the mayor's office did not immediately return a request for comment on Wednesday afternoon.]

Naturally, the new tax levy rate (the 0.415870 figure announced this week) will be imposed on the new value of the property. In this example, a property worth $100,000 in 2023 would have experienced a 37% increase this year, up to a valuation of $137,000. But even though the valuations have increased, the relative tax rate has actually decreased thanks to this Council vote. 

Someone owning a property valued at $137,000 in 2024 would owe $951.33 in city property taxes. But now, under this new rate, taxes on that property now come out to $569.74. In other words, even though the value of the property has increased by 37% ($100,000 to $137,000) from last year to this, the relative tax rate on that property has actually decreased by 18% ($694.45 to $569.74) in the same time frame - that's a major boon for home and business owners in the city of Fairbury. 

What made this significant change possible? The Mayor's post indicates that it stems from the city's June decision to pay off $2.7 million worth of bonds in order to fund a new city pool. 

"Our taxes are lower, our budget is solid, and we remain in a great financial position to keep Fairbury Moving Forward!" Brown said in his post. 

This story will be updated with further figures and details when they become available.