The Indianola City Council will meet to consider the FY2025 budget tonight in a special session.

The Indianola City Council set their maximum property tax rate earlier this month, with a lower rate than initially proposed due to the council moving away from a proposal for a bond levy on purchasing emergency vehicles. City Manager Ben Reeves tells KNIA News the tax rate is lower than what was initially proposed due to a council decision on purchasing vehicles.

“One of the options that was laid before them was the opportunity to make purchases of vehicles. Instead of one year’s worth of vehicles using the general fund levy in one given year, to do it over a five-year period with a debt service levy. Ultimately, they decided not to do that. They want to make sure that they were being as responsible as possible with the tax dollars that the community gives them. So last year’s overall tax levy for the City of Indianola was $13.55, and without this debt service levy being added, our new tax levy is going down to $13.46. So it’s actually a tax decrease for the City of Indianola this year.”

The council will also go into closed session after the consideration of the budget to discuss real estate. The meeting begins at 6pm in the city council chambers at Indianola City Hall.