photo by: Journal-World File Photos

At left is Baldwin City Hall, 803 Eighth St.; at right is the city government office at 4 E. Seventh St. in Eudora.

Residents of Baldwin City will get a bit of a tax break next year, while those of Eudora will see the city share of their tax obligation remain steady.

The Baldwin City Council approved Aug. 6 an $18.2 million budget for 2020 that essentially held the 2019 mill levy in place, with a slight reduction from the current year’s 44.753 mills to 44.724 mills in 2020.

“I think the council did a good job of keeping the mill levy steady for the people of Baldwin City,” Mayor Casey Simoneau told the Journal-World Sunday.

The Eudora City Commission will have a hearing at 7 p.m. Monday at City Hall on its $16.5 million 2020 budget that maintains the current year’s 39.506 mill levy.

With the approved budget, the owner of a $150,000 home in Baldwin City will pay the city $771 in property taxes; in Eudora, the owner of a home of the same value will pay that city $681.

Eudora Mayor Tim Reazin characterized the city’s 2020 budget as a “maintenance budget.”

“We requested this year the department heads only present needs and not wants,” he said.

Reazin said the city wants to work through the coming year on existing needs that need to be addressed.

Eudora will benefit from the 32 new homes added in the city last year, which boosted by 8% the amount of revenue the steady mill levy will produce in the coming year. Reazin said the commission’s view is that steady growth and the retail development it could attract will provide additional revenue to help reduce the property tax burden on city residents when Eudora addresses future water and wastewater needs.

The budget the Eudora City Commission will consider does include utility rate increases. The city plans a 7% increase in water and sewer rates in 2020.

Editor’s Note: This story was corrected to update information about utility rate increases that are planned for the city of Eudora.