Preliminary levy set to 13.3 percent

At its Monday, September 12, meeting, the City of Janesville successfully lowered its preliminary tax levy from its initially anticipated 22 percent increase down to 13.3 percent. During a previous meeting, council members had directed city staff to reduce the levy increase to between twelve and fifteen percent. “We decided to work toward bringing it down somewhere in the middle,” stated city administrator Cliff Rogers.

He reminded the council that insurance numbers wouldn’t be finalized until around Thanksgiving. “We usually have to wait until then to know what they will be. In a perfect world, they would go down a little bit.”

Rogers expressed gratitude to city staff for helping find ways to reduce the city budget, the foundation for the tax levy amount. “They do fantastic work,” he praised. “I wouldn’t be able to do it all by myself.”

The council happily approved the preliminary levy. Final numbers will be available in December when the city submits its budget to the Waseca County Auditor.

 

Other Business

The Janesville council approved pay estimate number five for the city’s 2022 street and utility improvement project. The estimate totaled $404,610.04 for work completed through September 2. Council members also approved deferring assessment for a property along Grove Street. Street and utility taxes from the current project will not have to be paid on the property either for the next 30 years or until the house is sold.

“Generally, those who are over a certain age or are disabled qualify for the deferred assessment,” Rogers explained.

Other business items included approving election judges, canceling the September 26 meeting due to lack of staff availability, and moving the Monday, October 10, council meeting to Tuesday of the same week due to the Columbus Day holiday.

 

Reports

Janesville Utilities Manager Nate Zimmerman updated the council on steps the power plant is taking to address the substation which caused power outages throughout the summer.

“We spent a substantial amount of time on budgeting,” Zimmerman elaborated. “We wanted to figure out what the big picture will look like and get the plant a sustainable future.”

What may delay things a bit is the delivery of new electric meters. “They have been kicked back until April 2023,” Zimmerman explained. “Quite frankly, I wouldn’t be surprised if those get kicked back even further.”

The city is moving forward with maintenance work on the water tower. Sandblasting of the interior started last Saturday, September 10. Zimmerman reports that the water tower will be back in service 7 to14 days after coating and water tests are complete.

Most of the new residential water meters have been installed around town. Only about 100 customers remain, according to Zimmerman. “A lot of those left unfinished are plumbing issues and lack of complying. But overall, we’re pretty happy with where we are.”

Those who don’t comply soon will be charged additional fees and may have their water shut off. “We’ve been told that we’re going to need teeth to get everyone to comply,” Zimmerman stated. “Of course, we don’t want to shut anybody off. But we will if we have to.”

The meeting adjourned at 7:28 p.m.