A six-cent property tax proposal was unveiled at the City of Morristown’s budget workshop on Friday aimed at addressing a desire to maintain the city’s elite fire coverage status.

Morristown maintains a Class 2 ISO fire rating, a public protection classification that puts the Morristown Fire Department in the top 5% of rated fire departments in the state. This classification ends up saving consumers, both residential and commercial, money by lowering insurance costs. The higher class rating is especially important to industry.

“We have an incredible industrial and commercial base, and everybody benefits from that, whether they work there or whether you’re a resident in the community,” City Administrator Andrew Ellard said. “Anytime you lose that ISO rating, every step in the ISO rating process means something financially to somebody. It may not impact tax dollars directly, but the justification (for the resources needed for ISO class maintenance) is there in what it would mean from an insurance standpoint, for especially large industries. We recognize that we are an industrial community more than anything else, and that ISO class rating is a great recruitment tool.”

Specifically, the tax rate will fund 9 new firefighters to be hired in order to maintain a staffing level that lets the fire department rotate firefighters at fires, a two-in, two-out method. The rotation provides a safer staffing level that also allows for more aggressive suppression.

Even with the proposed tax increase, which will bring the city tax rate to $1.00 per $100 of assessed value, officials said the tax would still be among the lowest in the region.

During the presentation Ellard focused on “paving, personnel and planning” for the budgetary goals for the fiscal 20262027 year starting July 1.

Paving continues to be a priority for the city with 10 miles of streets being paved and rejuvenation treatment being applied to 5.5 miles of street in an effort to “extend the life of the roadways” thereby saving overall paving costs by extending the time between needed resurfacing.

“I’m emphasizing the importance of stepping on the gas,” Ellard said. “We don’t want to get behind on it. Once you get behind on it (it’s painful to catch up).”

Personnel issues were certainly the centerpiece of the entire budget presentation. In addition to the proposed new firefighters, Ellard said the city needs to address recruitment, retention, competitive pay and maintaining service levels.

To that end, the budget includes a proposed 7% COLA raise for employees, in addition to the average 2% merit based raises employees receive.

“We need to be able to recruit, we need to be able to retain,” he said. “It’s not just one department… it’s every department.”

In addition, he described a plan to review benefits.

As the third framework of the presentation, Ellard said planning improvement would help keep the city in a good momentum.

Planning initiatives for the upcoming year include work on a new, comprehensive plan for the city, transportation corridor studies, park master planning, future infrastructure design and land-use/zoning strategy.

As has been the case with recent ward redistricting and park efforts, Ellard said it would be a priority to get community input on these processes.

Overall, the proposed general fund budget total is $64.79 million with a projected revenue of $63.95 million, which includes the impact of the proposed tax increase, which would provide for just over $1 million in new revenue.