ARLINGTON — It might be one of his last votes on the City Council, but Randy Tendering cast the lone “Nay” vote when the council voted to increase the general property tax levy by 1 percent Nov. 2.

City staff had recommended no tax increase and preserve the 1 percent capacity for future use, but the council requested that staff revise the proposed budget to include a 1 percent increase, which equals $39,174.

Although council members, including Jan Schuette, argued that such a tax increase would be relatively modest when divided among Arlington’s residents, Tendering echoed Mayor Barbara Tolbert, who noted more than once that citizens have already seen a recent increase due to the levy lid lift.

“The people had already voted themselves a tax hike through that,” said Tendering, who estimated that it amount to 56 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value. “I wanted to give the taxpayers a year off.”

While he doubted that adding $39,000 would “make or break” the citizens or the city budget, Tendering said, “I prefer it when people choose to raise their own taxes.”

Tendering did join the rest of the council in voting to approve a 1 percent increase on the Emergency Medical Services property tax levy, which was recommended by staff.

“Every city in the region is in the same boat as us on this one,” Tendering said. “EMS costs more than the money that’s coming in the door.”

Tendering estimated that as much as 85 percent of the calls that come into the fire department are for EMS, “so we might as well call it a medical department that puts out fires.”

He even suggested the state Legislature might need to increase the upper limit of how much cities can vote to raise their EMS levy rates.