The Abilene City Council began workshops to review the proposed, fiscal year 2013 city budget Monday.

If approved, the budget is a 5.8 percent increase from the FY 2012 budget.

The proposed tax rate is lower -- but that does not mean taxes will decrease.

The 2012 tax rate was 69.32 cents per $100 valuation. The proposed rate is just below that at 68.60 cents per$100 valuation, based on Jan. 1, 2012 appraisals.

According to a Taylor County Central Appraisal District spokesman, the extra money for the city budget is coming from higher property valuations, especially from commercial property values.

"The total tax for most people on their homes will not rise this year. They'll actually see a small decrease for city taxes," Chief Executive Officer of the Taylor County Central Appraisal District Richard Petree said.

Petree said the January 1 appraisals only mean a one to two percent increase in home values for most homeowners.

He said commercial properties will be seeing the big increases.

"There's been more demand for various types of commercial property," he said. "The increases there have probably been the largest percentage increase for the properties that we do appraisal work for."

He said the increase in commercial property value is the primary reason the city will generate more tax revenue despite the proposed decreased tax rate.

"The city has about a 3.4 percent increase in overall values," he said. "The proposed tax rate this year will generate approximately $35 million for the city operations and go toward their total budget."

He said increased sales tax revenue has also helped the proposed city budget.

"I would have never thought we'd see the kind of increases we've seen in sales tax revenue this year," he said. "It's been extremely strong and so it really kind of goes against everything that's going on in our national economy. But it looks good for Abilene"

A public hearing for the proposed budget is set for Aug. 9 and the final budget hearing will be Sept. 24.