The reasons, according to city officials, are cops and city staffers need competitive salaries, old city equipment needs upgrading and roads and sidewalks need improvement.

The increase on a $207,400 home - the city average - will be nearly $100.

"These are urgent needs we have to do something about," said Mayor Heber Thompson. "We will just diminish . . . if we don't."

In what the mayor referred to as "a needed and courageous act," the City Council unanimously passed the increase after a contentious public hearing Tuesday night at the city's library. It is only the second raise in 30 years on the city's portion of the property tax. The last raise was in 2002, officials said.

The proposal was met with opposition from residents who attended the public hearing.

Originally, city officials had discussed a 50 percent increase in the city's portion of the property tax rate, according to Councilman Shirl Lebaron. But the rate increase was eventually pared down to 20 percent after a recent valuation by the county said the average home price was $207,400, not $170,000. The increased funds, which will total almost $682,000 annually, will take care "bare bones" needs, the council said.