Council urged to decrease budget

“We need to lower the tax levy.”

City Administrator Clinton Rogers couldn’t have been any clearer when the Janesville city council discussed the preliminary tax levy on Monday, August 22. (Mayor Andy Arnoldt and Council Member Melissa Kopachek were not present.)

Rogers’ concerns were legitimate. If the proposed budgets for 2023 stay the same, the city will need to increase the tax levy by 22.3 percent to cover the costs.

Rogers added that the city needs to decrease its preliminary tax levy since the amount is printed on property tax statements received by residents. Although the purpose of the “preliminary” number is to act as the council’s “ceiling'' - the maximum level taxes can reach that year - the county auditor provides the figure to the public.

“It will be the first thing they see on their statement,” Rogers explained. “They will see that number and worry about their taxes being that high. I don’t want to have to present that to the public.”

Historically, the city council has been able to set levy increases at about five percent. Council member Jim Mulcahey stated that such a low increase would make it impossible to carry through with many of the improvement projects currently being planned.

“Inflation will be a problem next year,” he stated. “Because of that, I’d justify a ten- to twelve-percent increase.”

Mulcahey remained hopeful, however, that final levy rates do not have to be as high as the initial numbers. For one thing, he pointed out, energy and food costs are leveling off. “They aren’t increasing as much anymore. Maybe by December, when we have to decide final numbers, we could be down to eight or nine percent in tax levy increases.”

The council’s goal was to lower the preliminary tax levy to fifteen percent by September.

Members also looked through the street and parks portions of the 2023 general fund budget. The street budget increased by 4.3 percent. Line items such as vehicle gas and tree removal accounted for a significant portion of the increase.

“Ash borer was detected in Lakeview Park north of town,” public works manager Joe Ziemke elaborated. “We’re planning on having to cut down some trouble trees.”

The larger expected increase came from the parks portion of the budget: 87.4 percent. It surprised council member John Sprengeler and acting mayor Andy Ahlman.

The steep increase comes from a line item labeled “miscellaneous,” which went from $40,000 in 2022 to $120,000. Mulcahey explained that the city’s park board had requested more funds.  “The rationale was money in the past few years has not been spent on our parks. We figured the more recreation we do, the better chance we can get some people from Mankato here. There is logic behind it, not just pie-in-the-sky ideas.”

Ahlman understood, but agreed with Sprengeler that there needs to be more discussion on how much money the park board should receive.. “That’s quite the price hike,” he stated.

Reports

Council member Mulcahey reported that the opening ceremony for the disc golf course is planned for the first week of October, the same time that Janesville’s American Legion will celebrate an anniversary. Signs for the disc golf course will also be completed in the next month.

City Administrator Clinton Rogers stated that the League of Minnesota Cities is forming a policy committee on THC, a current hot-button issue for cities throughout the state.

Other Business

The council approved an application by Gerry Schendel to defer the assessment on his property for up to 30 years or until property ownership changes names.

The meeting adjourned at 7:32 p.m.