At its regular Sept. 23 business meeting, Florence City Council unanimously approved two ordinances, one establishing a bidding process for a non-exclusive electric franchise and the other lowering taxes for a second consecutive year.
The electric franchise ordinance enables the city to solicit bids and award rights to electric utility companies to install and maintain electricity transmission and distribution facilities within city rights-of-way.
Florence has two electric utilities, Duke Energy and the Owen Electric Cooperative. The franchise term would be for a 20-year period.
Some Florence residents could see their tax bills decrease by $25 under the ordinance approved Sept. 23.
Taxes paid in full by Nov. 1 receive a 2% discount and taxes paid after Jan. 1, 2026, are hit with a 12% penalty plus interest. The 2025 tax bills will go out about Oct. 1.
Florence Mayor Julie Metzger Aubuchon highlighted vote’s significance. “The past budget cycle, my administration presented to council a budget that projected for only a modest increase in revenues due to historical trends of city needs and sound money management,” she said.
Aubuchon explained that Florence hasn’t had two consecutive years of tax cuts in more than 20 years. “You would have to go back to 2003 and 2004 to find another successive two-year period of property tax rate cuts,” Aubuchon said.