The final month of bi-cameral municipal rule in Everett is going to be a busy one, with full schedules for both the Common Council and Board of Aldermen already on the calendar this month and now comes word that the Mayor has called a pair of Joint Conventions in December as well.
On Monday, December 9, at 6 p.m. the city will convene a Joint Convention in the Peter J. McCarren Memorial Chambers for the purposes of setting the 2014 tax rate for city taxpayers.
Effectively, there will be two votes taken, including one to adopt the residential exemption and one to adopt the minimum residential factor.
These are annual votes that will allow each body to set the tax rate based on property values and the amount of the money the city needs to raise through property taxes to balance its budget.
Then, on Monday, December 16 also at 6 p.m. the two bodies will come together again for a public hearing on proposed changes to amend the zoning regulations that will bring the city’s zoning ordinance into alignment with the new city government.
This hearing, and the vote afterward, are specific to the coming change of government that will take effect on January 6, 2014, when the new city council is sworn into office and the existing Council/Aldermen form of government is replaced.