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113 different rates for homeowners, and commercial and rental properties. He said homeowner assessments are rising more than others and the burden has been shifted to the homeowner. He said the Governor thought it was a good solution to allow differential rates, but the General Assembly did not approve his proposal. He said this is something we should look to do in the upcoming year. He asked Council to consider the resolution he presented tonight asking the legislature officially to grant Charlottesville that authority. Dr. Brown suggested that issue be discussed during Other Business. Ms. Hamilton said she wanted to comment on the budget process. She thanked City staff who she knows hear a lot of complaints during tax time. She said she thinks it is important to say thank you. She said questions from Council and citizens require a lot of staff time. APPROPRIATION : ANNUAL BUDGET APPROPRIATION Mr. Caravati said his goal is still to reduce the tax rate to $1, and he asked Council to consider reducing the Council reserve from $75,000 to $50,000 and reducing the pay increase from 4% to 3.25%. Mr. Lynch said he said he is concerned about salaries even though he recognizes that we get good work. He said the salary increases over the past five years have exceeded the rate of inflation. He also noted the increasing cost of health care. He said there are other areas he would prefer to cut. He said Council talked about cutting take home cars for the police except for City residents. He said he is concerned about health care generally and retiree health care in particular. He said we should look at the co-pay for spouses after retirement. He said we should also look at wellness programs. Dr. Brown said he is not in favor of reducing employee raises. He said we hire employees in a competitive market place, and he would argue against doing that. Ms. Hamilton said she does not support this for reasons previously stated. Mr. Schilling said he previously supported reducing Council reserve to $10,000 and thinks that is enough “play money” as he said a former Councilor referred to the reserve. He said he asked for more information but has not received it. He said he finds it troubling that Mr. Caravati’s recommendation to cut salary increases was offered after the public hearing so that there is no opportunity for comment on the proposal. th Mr. Lynch said Council has until April 11 to finalize the budget and there are other pots of money, such as the public safety disability benefit package that provides full retirement because of an injury that does not preclude working in a different capacity which he does not think is fair to taxpayers. No support was expressed for Mr. Caravati’s suggestion to reduce salary increases. Mr. O’Connell said he just received information based on a new calculation of personal property taxes to be received. He explained that the budget guidelines reduced the real estate by changing the valuation method of personal property taxes. He said that while it has not been looked at in depth, he now understands that there will be enough money projected as revenue from personal property taxes to allow a tax rate of $1, combined with the reduction in the Council reserve. He said he thinks that state revenues for personal property taxes were underbudgeted. Mr. Lynch said that works for him. He made a motion to reduce Council reserve by $50,000, and adjust the target figure to $680,000 to achieve an additional ½ cent reduction in the tax rate. Mr. Schilling seconded the motion.