The Jefferson city council will hold a public hearing on a proposed budget for fiscal year 2015-16 (beginning July 1) at its regular meeting next Tuesday, but the budget approved will not match the budget in the legal notice published in print media last week. The levy rate will be three cents lower than previously published. The levy rate will be 15.26 (per thousand dollars of taxable valuation), not 15.29 as posted in the legal notice.
Jim Unger, representing the city’s insurance carrier, provided the renewal rates to the council last week, Feb. 24. To meet the deadline for the legal notice (prior to last Tuesday’s meeting), city clerk Diane Kennedy had used Unger’s estimated rates. He had purposely estimated high. The actual renewal rates are significantly lower, allowing the council to lower the levy rate and still meet expenses.
Kennedy explained that by the Code of Iowa, the city council could not approve a levy higher than posted in the legal notice, but it can approve a lower levy. The lower levy rate is two cents lower than in the current year.
The total taxable valuation in the city increased just 0.06 percent, from $117,857,000 (all figures rounded to the nearest thousand) to $117,783,000. Including the valuation for gas and electric utilities, the city will levy taxes against $120,867,000, a decrease of .03 percent from last year (about $287,000).
The published proposed budget called for a property tax levy on regular property of 15.295, up from 15.285 in the current year. Total taxes levied on property account for $1,813,407 in revenue, a decrease of $2,000 from the current year, according to the Feb. 26 legal notice.
Total revenue in the FY ’16 budget is $7,995,000, an increase of $389,000 over the current year. The increase includes an estimated $150,000 in gaming tax coming from Wild Rose Jefferson, an estimated $129,000 in revenue from the municipal golf course, and an estimated $132,000 from an expected 3 percent increase in water and wastewater charges. That rate increase has not yet been approved by the council but is being discussed by the water and sewer committee.
The published proposed budget trims expenses from re-estimated $6,161,000 in the current year to $5,761,000. Significant changes include a $150,000 increase in the culture and recreation line item (which includes the golf course) and a $600,000 decrease in community and economic development. Kennedy explained that the cost of extending water and sewer infrastructure to Wild Rose Jefferson is in that line item, re-estimated at $958,000 in the current year. The city will recoup that cost in additional TIF revenues in the coming years.
All expenditures and transfers out for FY ’16 are budgeted at $7,310,000 in the published budget, a decrease of $465,000 from the re-estimated current year budget.
The fund balance on June 30, 2015, is estimated at $5,640,000. The estimated fund balance on June 30, 2016, is estimated at $6,325,000, according to the state budget form.
The total fund balance includes about $3 million in enterprise funds like the water plant replacement fund and the sewer replacement fund. Those funds are built up over time so money is available as projects are necessary. Also included in the fund balance is an excess of $2 million to cover payments on the bond issue for the Highway 4 overpass.
The city council will hold a public hearing on the FY ’16 budget next Tuesday, March 10, at 5:30 pm in the council chamber on the second floor of the municipal building.
