(Spencer)– Spencer city council members Monday got their first glimpse of the proposed budget for 2007.
City Manager Dean Torreson says the budget being proposed totals 21.3 million dollars. Of that, 19 million is for operations and maintenance and 2.3 million is earmarked for capital improvements. Of the 19 million dollar operating budget, Torresen says 20 percent is supported by property tax. He says the proposed levy would be $11.71 per thousand dollars valuation…a 20 cent increase over the current year of $11.44 per thousand. That translates to an additional 46-dollars for the owner of a 100-thousand dollar home. Torresen says a 10 percent across-the-board increase in valuation is to blame for atleast a portion of the increase.
Torresen told the council the city has reached the point where it needs to slash its operating expenses, especially in the General Fund. That means limiting equipment purchases, building maintenance, and small capital improvements, as well as the elimination of recurring programs and expenses that may not be central to the core mission of city government.
Torreson says they’re proposing four new increases in revenue. They include increasing daily swimming pool passes by 50 cents each; having the Police Department charge 20-dollars per call to vehicles with keys locked in them; and he says research is going on with the fire chief as to possibly increasing rural fire fighting contracts.
(Story from Danielle Hitchings of sister station KUYY in Spencer.
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