City Manager Tom Bonfield (right) proposed a $362.4-million budget Monday night for the coming fiscal year, including a .56-cent increase on the property-tax rate.

The increase would raise the city rate to 55.75 cents per $100 of tax valuation. That would raise annual taxes on a $150,000 house from $827.85 to $836.25.

City administrators had predicted a tax increase would be needed next year to cover debt service on bonds that voters approved in 2006, 2007 and 2010. Increases in water-sewer and stormwater fees, also previously forecast, are also part of the budget proposal. Those increases are 4.8 percent and 8.5 percent respectively.

The budget eliminates 10 positions, seven of which are currently filled. Bonfield said new jobs have been found for five of the affected employees, and he recommended creating new or un-freezing a total of 21 city jobs.

Employees can also look forward to raises, averaging 3 percent to 5 percent for police and firefighters and 2 percent for everyone else; and reinstating the city contribution to employee 401K retirement plans.

“That’s the most we can afford,” Bonfield said before his formal presentation to the city council.

“If the budget were described as a meal, it would be for somebody on a bland diet,” Bonfield said. “But it gets the job done.”