The Canton City Council approved a conditional use permit and rezoning application from Mondo Land Planning and Design for a mix of 24 duplex and quadplex units at 850 Marietta Road, plus two existing houses that would be renovated.

The Canton City Council approved a conditional use permit and rezoning application from Mondo Land Planning and Design for a mix of 24 duplex and quadplex units at 850 Marietta Road, plus two existing houses that would be renovated.

The Canton City Council voted unanimously to set the city's millage rate at 5.4 mills Thursday, and held its first public hearing on the city's proposed $79.8 million budget.

The 5.4 maintenance and operations millage rate, which is the same rate the city has had since 2017, will result in a tax increase for those with higher assessments due to rising property values. This rate is 20.43% higher than the rollback rate of 4.484 mills, which would keep city property tax revenues the same.

In Canton, more than 78% of senior-owned properties receive the city's full $112,000 senior exemption, saving senior taxpayers $1.7 million, Canton Finance Director Melissa Forrester said July 7.

To qualify for the senior exemption, a resident must be 62 or older, occupy the home that they own, and apply for the exemption with the Cherokee County Tax Commission.

Under the 5.4 millage rate, the city tax increase for a home with a fair market value of $375,000 would be about $137.40.

The tax increase for non-homestead property with a fair market value of $225,000 would be about $82.44.

In addition to setting the millage rate, the city council also held its first public hearing to discuss the proposed budget for 2023, which is expected to be a little over $79.8 million.

The budget is an $8.45 million decrease from the current year’s budget of $88.3 million, according to city documents. The general fund, however, is proposed to increase by a little over $1.6 million to $21,999,240 in 2023.

Most of the decrease in the budget comes from a transfer of American Rescue Plan Act funds from the last budget year into the general fund, based on federal rules for revenue loss calculation, as well as reductions in Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax and sanitation funds, according to city documents.

Of the general fund, the city’s largest budget item is the police department, with a proposed $6.1 million budget — over $5 million in salaries and benefits, and another $1 million on services and supplies.

The proposed budget includes pay raises for police through a new step pay program. The budget also proposes raises for civilian employees, moving starting rates to $20 an hour, adding a $5,000 base level increase for all non-contract employees and giving a 5% cost of living raise. There is also an up to 20% increase on employee benefits that represent only the employer share, according to city documents.

The budget also includes a number of proposed projects and initiatives. Some of these include the completion of the Etowah River Trail westward connector (Heritage Park to Boling Park), improvements to both Heritage and Harmon parks, planning of a dog park, design and construction of a westside pedestrian bridge, designing for improvements along Highway 140 and additional road paving projects and improvements throughout the city, initiation of Tax Allocation District projects, new downtown housing assisted through the TAD, Shipp Street redevelopment and the creation of an urban development and housing department with a full-time housing initiatives director, according to city documents.

The city council will hold a second public hearing at 6 p.m. Aug. 4, after which the council is scheduled to vote on adopting it.

Also at the meeting, council members voted unanimously to agree to an intergovernmental agreement with Cherokee County for the distribution of the city’s share of a potential 2024 SPLOST.

The Cherokee County Board of Commissioners will hold a special called meeting July 28 to consider county-city sales tax agreements and call for a voter referendum on renewing the 1% Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax. The meeting is scheduled to start at 6 p.m. July 28 at Cherokee Hall in the Cherokee County Administration Complex, 1130 Bluffs Parkway in Canton.

If voters pass an extension of the penny sales tax in November, collections would start in July 2024. Canton’s projected share of SPLOST funds over the six-year period is over $49 million.

Joint transportation projects between Canton and the county could include Marietta Highway improvements between Ridge Road and Univeter Road/Butterworth Road, as well as work on the Heard Road extension, totaling $3.4 million from county SPLOST proceeds.

According to city documents, Canton staff are proposing the following allocations:

- $3 million for public safety technology, vehicles, equipment and facilities

- $22 million for parks, recreation and cultural amenities

- $7 million for general government buildings and equipment

- and any debt service or capitol leases related to SPLOST projects

The city council also approved the following:

- A conditional use permit and rezoning application from Mondo Land Planning and Design for a mix of 24 duplex and quadplex units at 850 Marietta Road, plus two existing houses that would be renovated. The properties will be rezoned from office-residential transitional to residential attached, according to city documents. The development will have a density of 8.04 units per acre spread across a little over 5.3 acres. The owner of the properties at 850 and 830 Marietta Road, Latimer Apartments, LLC, will combine the 24 homes with an existing duplex development to the north, Coppermine Manor, city documents show. The developer will be required to put up a six-foot privacy fence to the southern property line. The city council voted 5-1 to approve the request, with council member Brooke Schmidt voting against it.

- A bid to award construction for the city’s Harmon Park improvement project to TriScapes, Inc. in the amount of $4.3 million. This project includes construction of a 10- to 11-inch-wide multi-use concrete trail, sidewalk improvements, additional parking, full size basketball court, 60x90 foot mini-pitch soccer field, stadium style sitting, replacing fencing on existing baseball field, construction of a prefabricated picnic pavilion, and additional items, according to city documents. Councilmember Shawn Tolan said the improvements are much needed and that "the park can be something those folks (Sunnyside community) and the entire city can be proud of." The council voted unanimously to approve the contract and they also voted unanimously to award Atkins with a $26,000 contract to complete construction services management during the project.

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