City tax rate expected to fall for second straight year

Local taxpayers are expected to see the city’s portion of their tax bill drop for a second straight year.

City Administrator Scott Flory presented the City Council with a fiscal year 2018 municipal budget proposal Monday night.  The proposed tax rate for the next fiscal year, which begins on July 1 and ends on June 30, 2018, is $9.80 per $1,000 of assessed taxable valuation.

For fiscal year 2017 the tax rate was decreased by nearly 50-cents per $1,000, from $10.54 to $10.04 per $1,000 of taxable valuation.

Flory reports the taxable valuation for the 2018 fiscal year continues the positive trend of growth in the community.

The taxable valuation for fiscal year 2018 is $586,296,745, which is an increase of $38,580,902 (6.5 percent) from fiscal year 2017.

“This is despite an increasing commercial, industrial and multi-family residential rollback.  The residential rollback for fiscal year 2018 is set at 56.94 percent, which is a slight increase from fiscal year 2017’s rate of 55.63 percent,” said Flory.

The proposed fiscal year 2018 budget reflects total expenditures among various programs of slightly over $14 million, of which $8 million is directed toward operations and maintenance, $5.4 million is directed toward capital, and $635,000 to debt service.

The projected ending cash balance for June 30, 2018 in the General Fund is $3.4 million, which is roughly 52 percent of the general fund operating budget.

Flory noted the City’s debt limit for fiscal year 2018 is $46.8 million and the City currently has used only $2.3 million, or 5 percent, of its General Obligation debt borrowing capacity.

“That has to be one of the lowest levels of indebtedness for a city our size not only in the state, but nation wide,” said Flory.  “We have virtually no debt on the books.”

Flory will make at least two more presentations about the proposed budget at Council meetings slated for Feb. 20 and March 6.  At Monday’s meeting he offered a brief overview of the plan, but opted to delay his powerpoint presentation until more Council representatives could be present.  Councilmen Mike Callahan and Jim Boehnke were absent Monday.  Tony Nelson participated in the meeting via the telephone to provide a quorum.

The March 6 meeting will be a public hearing on the budget.  The City must certify its budget to the County Auditor by March 15.