City levy to drop

City of Medford residents could see a slight decrease in the city portion of their property taxes this winter boosted by increased growth in the city and a decrease in the city tax levy.

At Tuesday’s city council meeting, council members approved the 2025 city budget and set the local tax levy. The budget calls for $4,324,324.04 in general fund expenditures in 2025. This is up from the current year’s general fund budget of $4,256,463. City property tax payers are responsible for only a portion of that with the remainder coming from state shared revenues, fees and other revenue sources.

In addition to the general fund, city taxes are impacted by the construction fund and city debt service payments. These amounts combine to form the total city levy of $1,848,614, not including the tax incremental districts. This breaks down to $1,043,614 or 57% going to the general fund, $765,000 or 41% going to the construction fund, and $40,000 or

See CITY on page 4 2% going to pay for debt service.

Historically the biggest change in the past decade of city finances has been the wholesale shift away from debt service as a significant budget expense as the city has aggressively paid down debt. This has freed up space in the local levy to pay upfront for things like construction projects rather than borrowing for them.

The overall city tax levy is down $14,135 from the current year’s budget. The city also received a boost due to new construction which helps by spreading out the tax levy across more property base. The city saw $8,575,000 in net new construction in 2024, nearly three times more new growth than occurred last year and roughly equalling the amount of total net growth from 2021 to 2023 combined.

Municipalities such as Medford are limited by state law to tie any local levy increases to community growth. Under the state’s formula, the city new construction growth of 2.06% in 2024 allows for an additional $48,000 onto the tax levy.

The city’s tax rate will be formally set later this fall after the county and school district’s budgets are set and tax levies are apportioned out to the individual municipalities.

Housing

The city of Medford will continue to give a boost to the building trades program at Medford Area Senior High School.

Council members approved giving the school district a third city-owned lot in the residential subdivision at the south end of Pep’s Drive. In planning the development, the city previously donated two building lots to the school district. Last school year, the building trades classes, under the direction of teacher Doug Eichman, constructed a residence on one of those parcels and have started construction on the second home this school year.

Eichman said his hope would be to be able to continue the project going forward with students building a house each year. He explained that the students did the carpentry work on the home with subcontractors coming in for things like flooring, plumbing, electrical, concrete and landscaping work.

Students were able to observe and in some cases work with the subcontractors to learn about those skilled trade areas.

Eichman said that going forward with the third year, he would like to expand the program to include students in the architectural class taught by Joe Gasser to get them involved in the design of the third home. That home, unlike the first two, will include a basement. In deciding on the design of the homes, the school worked with local real estate agents about what features people were seeking.

The hope is that over time the program will be selfsustaining with the sale of one year’s house paying for the construction cost of the following year’s home. Eichman said the district is in the process of selling the first home to a buyer.

Eichman said the program is an option for students who are not college bound to get practical experience in the skilled trades. He said graduates of the class have gone on to work in the construction field at employers in the region.

Eichman said that with the cost of materials and other expenses, the school district likely broke even or had a small loss when including expenses such as purchase of an equipment trailer.

However, Eichman noted that the school district’s perspective was that this was primarily a learning opportunity for the students. He said he is glad the first home sold so that they can use the funding to pay for the cost of the second home.

Mayor Mike Wellner said the question from the city was if they should give the district a parcel or have them purchase it like anyone else would have to. He said the council had been divided on how to proceed noting that were some who favored each option.

“I think we should give them the land,” said member Mike Bub, noting that after speaking to people from the school district he changed his mind on the subject. He said he was relieved to learn that the proceeds of the sale of the house would stay with the program and not just end up in the general fund.

“I think it is a great opportunity for kids,” he said, also noting that ultimately when the property with the home is sold the future homeowners would be paying property taxes.

Council members voted unanimously to give the school district a third parcel. This lot will be in a currently undeveloped portion of the subdivision to the north and west of the developed section.

In other land sale action, council members agreed to sell approximately 3 acres of land on Pep's Drive to Hope Hospice for $6,000. The parcel is located south of the existing apartment complex. The action came out of a closed session held at last week’s meeting with no further information released at this time as to plans for the parcel.

In other business, council members

• Set trick-or-treat hours for October 27 following the parade to 6 p.m. They also approved the permits for the adult trick-or-treat event to be held as part of Harvest Days on October 26.

• Approved a utility expansion agreement for the planned Ziggi’s Coffee on Hwy 13. The city and the developer will split the cost of the project with the developer paying for the materials at about $9,000 and the city doing the installation at a cost of about $10,000. Site work on the project will be done this fall with construction to take place next spring.

• Received an update on public works projects and the installation of a concrete pad by the Flag Field and the work done by student volunteers to have black dirt put around the pad.