It's been more than a decade since property taxes increased in Mercer County but now, inflation has taken it's toll.

"Rising cost in wages, vehicles, gasoline, utilities, all the things that we have to purchase to operate the county have gone up in price significantly over the last ten years and we've maintained a flat line millage so in essence, there's been no increases in over ten years," Bill Finley, Mercer County Commissioner, said. "In Mercer County they've been running a deficit for several years now that they've had to use money from an operating reserve fund to balance the budget there's money that's been saved up over the years and now that has been spent down," he said.

As a result, the tax payers will have to come out of more money.

County Commissioners decided to increase property taxes by 3.6 mills, which means for the average home with a market value of $200,000, the homeowner will pay about an extra $88 per year.

"It was almost a 6 mill increase needed to balance the budget and the three commissioners met and we said that just wasn't acceptable to put all of that burden onto the taxpayers," Finley said. "Through cuts that we've made to the budget and future cuts that we plan to make over the next twelve months, we believe that we can operate on a 3.6 mill increase," he said.

One county resident seemed to be understanding about the situation.

"Everything's going up these days and if you want government, you have to pay for it," Wayne Steen, resident said. "Taxes do good things so we need it and everybody can pay a little bit," he said.

Finley said this is a preliminary budget which means it still needs some tweaking, but in 2025 property owners can definitely expect to see that increase.