Dublin City Council to give city schools a small break from collection fees

The Dublin City Council did not approve a total waiver for when it comes to the tax collection fees it places on the Dublin City School System, but it will be less than normal. 

After only receiving three votes for a total waiver, the city council approved a $200,000 cap for collection fees for the city school taxes during Thursday’s Oct. 15 meeting.

“The state has a 2.5 percent collect fee that the city charges the school system for levying and collecting their taxes,” said Dublin Mayor Joshua Kight. “That 2.5 percent collection fee would have been about $375,000 that the school system would pay to the city for us handling their tax collections.”

What council agreed to was to waive the whole fee above $200,000.

“We’ll take the first $200,000 but we’ll waive everything above that,” Kight said. “So it should be a $175,000 benefit to the school system.” 

Dublin City Manager Josh Powell informed council that the Dublin City School System has advertised a millage rate of 18.772. 

“That will be a small tax increase for them,” Powell said. “They are going through their public hearings now. Because of the time gap between this council’s meeting and the next regular council meeting, which is three weeks away, we are asking the council to approve us to levy and collect up to the advertised rate.” 

He said the DCS could adopt a rate lower than 18.772, but they could not go higher than that rate without starting that process over. 

“That would delay everything,” Powell said. “The goal for us is to get the property tax bills out sooner rather than later.” 

The DCS’ expected total levy is more than $14 million. The city schools’ final public hearing and vote on the tax rate is scheduled for Monday, Oct. 26. Kight said they are required by law to adopt the DCS’ rate and collect it for them.

“The city council does not change the rate,” Kight said. 

After approving the levy and collection, the council looked into a request from the DCS to waive the collection fee. The first motion made by Councilman Bennie Jones and seconded by Chris Smith was to totally waive the fee. Councilwoman Tess Godfrey abstained from the vote after she asked if the waiving of the fee “would be a one-time thing,” and was told by Kight they were at the voting stage of the motion.   

“What if I don’t know how I want to vote,” Godfrey asked.  

“You can abstain,” Kight said.

Council members Bill Brown, Paul Griggs and Sara Kolbie voted against it while Jones, Smith and Brandon Chain voted for it and Godfrey abstained. The council was informed that the motion failed because it needed four “yes” votes.

Brown made a motion to set a maximum fee of $200,000, and seconded by Griggs, which passed. 

“This is an effort to show good faith with the school system as they prepare to get their financial house in order,” the mayor said. 

The council then approved a suspension of park insurance for 30 days. 

“We are still trying to figure out the best and fairest way to insure against any kind of events or problems we have when people rent a park,” Kight said.

City staff had created a lease insurance requirement for those who were leasing a park, pavilion or playground for an event. 

“They would need to get a $1 million insurance policy to cover them and the city,” Kight said. “The cost of that ended up being a little bit more than we were expecting. So, we wanted to suspend that for 30 days while we get our attorney to help us understand how we can stay protected without imposing such a large cost on community events.”

During council comments, Kolbie explained why she voted against this resolution.

“I want to be consistent across the board,” Kolbie said. “I think at some point we have to implement and enforce park policies.” 

Kight hopes the council will receive a report and make a decision for a policy that will go into effect in 2027.

Also happening next year, the council voted to move their second meeting of the month to 5:30 p.m. Currently, city council holds its second meeting of the month (which is the third Thursday of every month) at noon. 

The council holds its first meeting of the month (which is the first Thursday of every month) at 5:30 p.m. 

In other meeting news, council:

– Passed a resolution to renew the health insurance package for its employees for 2027. 

“We are expecting that the over increases should be less than 15 percent,” Powell said. “Open enrollment for the city is going to be on Oct. 29 and 30. There is no expected cost increase, on the premium side, for employees of the city.” 

– Approved a resolution for a guaranteed maximum price contract with Dublin Construction Company for the Springdale Park Project for phase 1 and improved an addendum to the contract with Thomas and Hutton engineering company for the phase 2 part of the park.