(Spirit Lake)– Meeting in special session Thursday evening, the Spirit Lake city council continued to review the proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year.
As we reported last week, the city is looking at a 38 cent per thousand dollars of valuation increase in the levy compared to the current fiscal year. The rollback in residential property values, cuts from the state such as the Bank Franchise revenues that used to go to cities, and Tax Increment Finance Districts were all cited as contributing factors to this year’s budget woes.
Councilman Jeff Thee says trying to get some of the TIF districts back onto the tax rolls should be an extremely high priority of the city council in the upcoming year. Public Works Director Todd Dolphin says a balance needs to be struck if the city is to avoid a similar situation next year. The council will be meeting with the city’s financial consultant, Tim Oswald, in the near future to determine what, if any, TIF districts could be returned to the tax rolls.
The proposed 2005-’06 Fiscal Year budget does include money for a couple of projects that have been in high demand by the general public. For example, the council voted to earmark 50-thousand dollars in Economic Development Setaside Funds the city will receive this year for the city’s Parks and Recreation Committee, which, the council hopes, will put toward a new shelter house for Gilbert Park. And Dolphin says 100-thousand dollars is included for sealcoating streets…something that hasn’t been done in Spirit Lake for several years. Dolphin says the city will get back into a general rotation on street coating beginning this year.
The council has scheduled a public hearing on the proposed budget for 12 Noon Tuesday, March 15th.
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