Leaders with the City of Harrisonburg approved a real estate tax hike late Tuesday night.

A tax increase of six cents per $100 of assessed value will help fund the 2017 budget for the city. Right now, the rate is 72 cents per $100 of assessed value. That means a $200,000 home could require $1,440 in real estate tax.

With the new rate of 78 cents per $100 of assessed value, the same $200,000 home would owe $1,560. This is a tax increase of about 8 percent. This is lower than the originally proposed 11 percent increase.

Leaders in Harrisonburg also approved a water rate increase Tuesday night.

According to the ordinance for city water:

From the first zero gallons to 2,500 gallons, residents will pay $2.74 per 1,000 gallons. From there, for the next 2,500 gallons to 25,000, gallons residents pay $3.11 per 1,000 gallons. For the next 25,000 gallons to 250,000 gallons, users will pay $2.82 per 1,000 gallons. And all used over 250,000 gallons will be charged $2.40 per 1,000 gallons.

Leaders also approved an updated ordinance for chickens in the city. Going forward, single-family homes in Harrisonburg can now have up to four hens. You won't have to get your neighbors to sign a waiver to allow the birds, but it is encouraged you let your neighbors know if you plan on getting them.

Council members also listened to comments from Nexus Services. Multiple employees addressed city leaders about their FOIA request against the Augusta County Sheriff's Office. According to Nexus, in the thousands of emails they received from that request, emails from a Harrisonburg city employee were also included. City leaders responded to the comments saying they don't support what was allegedly written in those emails. No action was taken by city leaders on the issue.

You can find the city's proposed budget along with a link to our story about the Nexus lawsuit in the related links section of this story.