BEATRICE – City of Beatrice government has a new budget. The city council passed a biennial budget Tuesday night that proposes spending of about $55.6 million in fiscal 2020….and just under $49.6 million in fiscal 2021.

The budgets include no property tax rate hike, though Councilman Ted Fairbanks says the city will receive taxes on higher property valuation and the tax rate is being held down by that increased valuation.

The new property tax rate is 39.627 cents per hundred dollars of valuation, down slightly from the past year.

Councilman Bob Morgan said city department heads did a good job of watching what is spent. The new budget also does not include any electric, water or sewer rate increases.

The council passed a resolution that sets various fees in the city. The only increase was a five-percent hike in ambulance rates, the first increase since 2016.

City Administrator Tobias Tempelmeyer says the city still writes off about a third of ambulance fees, over a year’s time.