The Crossville City Council voted unanimously in a special meeting late yesterday to keep the property tax rate for the upcoming budget year the same with no increase.

“I will not support a property tax increase while we have $14 million dollars in the reserve (rainy day fund) to use,” said City Councilman J.H. Graham III. He went on to make a motion to keep the property tax the same as last year. It received a second from Councilman Scot Shanks and passed.

The current property tax in Crossville is 59 cent per $100 of assessed value. The council previously entertained a 5 cent increase but a grant of nearly $285,000 coming to the City of Crossville offset a shortage in the new budget. Added with recent sales tax collections not as bad as previously thought, officials balanced the new budget. A second phase of a pay raise program for city employees will go into effect July 1, 2020.