Total property taxes for a person with a $300,000 house would rise about $189 this year under an updated 2010 city budget presented Friday by the administration of Mayor Dan Sullivan.

That includes taxes for both schools and city government.

The tax increase is $90 less of a rise than was expected when the Assembly passed the budget in December.

The total tax bill for schools and the city would be $4,623 on a $300,000 house for residents on average, though the actual rate differs depending on what part of town you live in and what services are available there, said Cheryl Frasca, director of the city's management and budget office.

The city annually revises revenue and spending projections during the first quarter of the year before setting property tax rates. The Anchorage Assembly is due to hold a hearing and consider the new numbers April 13.

The 2010 city spending estimate now is the same as when the Assembly approved the budget in December: $421.3 million.

But a greater share of the revenue is now expected from sources other than property taxes, said Frasca.

The non-property tax revenue increases include slightly more revenue-sharing money from the state, and a significant increase in payments that city utilities make in lieu of taxes. The utility's contributions are based on the value of their properties, which are rising due to expansion of the utility plants. Part of those payments offset property taxes.

Total property taxes as currently proposed would come in $8.5 million under the city's maximum tax cap.

In its budget revisions, the Sullivan administration lists a number of major changes in spending.

Savings that weren't anticipated before include a $3.9 million drop in payments the city has to make on bonds, largely due to refinancing, said Frasca.

City finance officials found another $707,000 in anticipated costs that are not, in fact, required. They are technical things like insurance and medical payments, Frasca said.

Those are just examples.

At the same time, additional spending is projected. Among the new items:

• $595,000 to meet federal requirements for storm drainage systems.

• $250,000 for additional police and fire overtime.

• $780,000 for bond-related spending, including opening the new Mountain View library in June.

• $2 million because employee turnover is not as high as the city first thought, so positions the city thought would be vacant for a time won't be vacant after all. Particularly, said Frasca, not as many vacancies are occurring in the police and fire departments.

City finance director Lucinda Mahoney said the city ended 2009 in good shape, with the recommended amount of reserves on hand.

"We have fully restored the health of the city," Mahoney said during an Anchorage Assembly work session Friday on the new numbers.

The fund balance, money the city has in reserve to protect the bond rating and in case of emergency, ended 2009 at $35.9 million, she said, compared to $18.8 million at the end of 2008, following a crash in the value of city investments.