Key Colony Beach officials will have a millage rate of 1.832 heading into the municipality's public budget hearings in September.

The commission approved the rate, which is at rollback level, during its Tuesday morning meeting. Rollback is the tax rate that collects the same amount of money as the previous year. The total property value in the city of Key Colony Beach dropped more than $100 million from the previous year, meaning that the rollback rate is actually higher than last year's property tax level of 1.44.

A millage rate of 1.832 means that a residential property owner would pay about $1.83 for every $1,000 of assessed property value. Key Colony Beach Mayor Ron Sutton noted that a home valued at $300,000 would pay $549 in city property taxes.

Although the property tax rate is higher, the actual burden on the property owners will be somewhat diminished since their home values likely dropped. The exception to that rule is homesteaded properties, some of which will see a slight increase in their property values if that level is still below the open market value.

Some of the changes in this year's proposed budget include a 15-percent increase in employee health insurance, a decrease in police overtime, and a $30,000 cost of transferring the city's building department files to an electronic format.

The first Key Colony Beach budget public hearing will take place on Sept. 3 at 5:15 p.m. in City Hall. The second one will be held on Sept. 10 at 5:15 p.m., also in City Hall.