ORANGE PARK – The town council approved a tentative millage rate Tuesday night that’s the same as last year’s, which was already a decrease for taxpayers.

The Orange Park Town Council voted to keep the millage the same, not choosing to roll the tax down to the rollback rate. The council chose not to bring the millage to the rollback rate of 5.635, but it did vote to approve an overall rate of 5.878, which is a 4.22% increase over the rolled back rate in a 4-1 vote, with council member Alan Watt dissenting.

“Just as a reminder, you can lower the (millage) but you cannot raise it now that it’s been set,” town attorney Sam Garrison said.

Reaching that rate came with little discussion. Watt, who voted no on the tentative rate, didn’t comment.

Council member Ron Raymond didn’t agree with the line item for red-light cameras.

Since Jan. 1, 2018, 20,166 red-light camera tickets have been mailed to drivers. According to town manager Sarah Campbell, that’s an average of 33 tickets a day in a town with traffic involving more than 80,000 cars.

“That’s (.4%) of drivers so it’s really not as much as it might seem,” Campbell said.

Raymond was dissatisfied with the method of ticketing, as well as red-light fines being used in the budget.

The current red-light camera contract is set to end in February. The budget, however, goes months beyond that. Because that contract ends sooner, Raymond said the town shouldn’t include it in the budget.

“We can’t presume to know if we’ll vote to renew that contract or not,” Raymond said.

He also said fines and forfeitures shouldn’t be included in the budget since those funds haven’t yet been received. Raymond said fines should be put into the following year’s budget.

The town’s director of finance, John Villanueva, said fines and forfeitures have always been budgeted the same way.

“We use the previous trends that we have and the best available and timely information that we have to create a revenue projection,” Villanueva said.

The town would have a shortfall of $249,000 if red-light camera fines were removed from the budget.

The council voted 4-1 to approve the $19,881,635 budget, with Raymond dissenting. The next public hearing is Sept. 30 at 7 p.m. when the council will vote on the final millage rate and budget.