The city of Oxford Council last week informally agreed to raise the city millage rate from 6.28 to 7.06.

Frankly, we are disappointed.

Oxford is fortunate to have good, conservative leadership, but this was a poor decision.

The rationale is that property tax values have declined, hence the city will bring in less revenue because of the decline in assessments. The millage rate of 7.06 would be an adjustment that would basically be revenue neutral.

So while your property may have experienced a decline in value, you get no break from the tax man.

Our take on it is that you are having to tighten the belt with home finances, so government also needs to make do with less.

We can understand when a community such as Porterdale has to resort to the rollback rate when property values decline, because they have no other income stream to speak of on which to rely.

But Oxford is fortunate in that it generates income from providing electrical services, which pays for much of its bills.

The city has proved itself fiscally responsible and is well run, but it would make sense to let the property owners who have experienced a decline in value at least experience a bit of relief in the form of a lower property tax bill.

The council will meet on Monday to set the rate and plans to adopt the rate increase at its August meeting.

We suggest that the citizens of Oxford tell their elected officials to go back to the drawing board and cut some expenses and not raise taxes under this guise.