The Austin City Council set its 2016 tax levy at $4.9 million Monday, officially marking its intended $565,000 levy increase for the city of Austin.

That increase looks a lot larger than it really is, according to city staff. The city will receive about $140,000 in new taxes from the Holiday Inn area, which has a tax increment finance district set to expire at the end of this year. That will cover about 3 percent of the increased levy.

In addition, about 2 to 3 percent of taxes usually comes from new commercial and residential properties, which means a 6 to 7 percent increase is what will actually show up on tax bills next year.

Next year’s increase will go toward funding a new police officer, a new detective, a Jay C. Hormel Nature Center employee and a new parks and recreation department worker with the levy increase.

“That’s going to allow us to reach out to the community in more ways,” Police Chief Brian Krueger said.

The extra detective will help ease the case burden among the department’s four detectives, and the new police officer will allow the department to get involved in more community-based programs, such as neighborhood watches.

The nature center looks to hire another full-time employee in mid-2016 as its plans for a new interpretive center come to fruition.

In addition, the parks and rec department needs more employees to cover an increasing amount of city land and parks. The city has purchased multiple properties over the years as part of an initiative to flood-proof Austin.

The council won’t make the levy official until December, when it holds a Truth in Taxation meeting to allow residents the chance to learn more about their taxes. Council members can’t set the levy higher than $4.9 million from now until the end of the year, but they can choose to lower the levy.

The council will finalize the levy on Dec. 8, the same day as the Truth in Taxation meeting.