(Spirit Lake)– A special meeting Tuesday evening to work on the budget for the upcoming fiscal year had Spirit Lake city council members sharpening their pencils down to the eraser.
Spirit Lake City Administrator Pete Hegeman says a number of factors have caught up with the city to present some real headaches in the budgeting process for the upcoming fiscal year.
Hegeman says more funding cuts from the state, bonding to help pay for the Drainage District 22 project, Tax Increment Finance Districts which have yet to be returned to the tax rolls, and the rollback on residential valuations have all combined to make this year’s budgeting process that more difficult. All total, it amounts to about 57-thousand dollars less the city will receive.
To make up for that, Hegeman says city staff, with the council’s approval, went through the budget, cutting most areas.
The council made additional cuts Tuesday evening after learning the proposed budget did not include any provisions for a cost of living increase for city employees. It was the concensus of the council to go ahead with a three percent increase, amounting to an additional 17-thousand dollars that had to be trimmed from the budget. They eventually found it by reducing some areas even more and by not granting a 500-dollar increase in funding the Lakes Area Senior Citizens were requesting. 3,500-dollars in funding for youth programs in the Parks Department was also axed.
Even with the cuts, Hegeman says they’ll be forced to raise property taxes in order to balance the budget. He says the increase could be as much as 38 cents per thousand dollars valuation.
The proposed budget will be fine-tuned even more prior to a public hearing being held on it in upcoming weeks.
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