City aims for limit of 4 mills
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Emporia city commissioners said Wednesday that they wanted to see no more than a 4-mill increase in the 2008 budget.
If property taxes went up by that much, it would raise the levy on a $100,000 home by $46, not including any valuation changes. That would be a total bill of $516.99
Several commissioners made it clear that 4 mills was an outer limit, not a mandate. Commissioner Jeff Longbine said he’d be just as happy to see no change at all.
“The conversations I’ve had with community people is that they’d like to hold taxes as flat as possible,” he said. “I realize the difficulty in doing this, but I also want to take account of the fact that we’ve had substantial increases in our service fees. We may not be able to do it all in one year.”
City Manager Matt Zimmerman had asked for a target mill levy so that the city staff could start making priorities and offering choices.
In particular, the city has some tough calls to make in its capital improvement plan, which recommends projects to be done and equipment to be purchased over the next five years. To do everything on the list would require $53 million over those five years, including $32 million from the city.
That simply wasn’t realistic, Zimmerman said.
“It took us five-plus years to get into this situation,” he said. “We’re not going to get out overnight.”
At an earlier meeting, Zimmerman said it would take $3 million more than the general fund could raise to cover every requested hire and purchase while still leaving a 5 percent reserve and covering any pay increases recommended by an upcoming wage and benefits study. With the new city valuation, that’s been upgraded to $2.5 million — but it still means the list will have to be pared down somewhere.
Although the commission accepted the 2008 capital improvement plan, it did not commit to funding any of the items. Several individual pieces came up for discussion, such as the police department’s request for two sport utility vehicles to be used by supervising sergeants and lieutenants.
“I was thinking it would be about $5,000 more than a patrol car,” Chief Mike Lopez said.
“That won’t cut you,” said Longbine, the owner of Longbine Auto Plaza. “By the time you add four-wheel drive, you’re looking at a minimum of $10,000 more.”
“Plus operating costs,” added Bobbie Agler, the chief financial officer for Creig Agler Automotive. “Those SUVs suck a lot of gas.”
Longbine also continued to ask Fire Chief Jack Taylor about whether the department was getting its money’s worth out of the new medium-duty ambulances, which cost $50,000 to $60,000 more than a light chassis. Taylor’s answer was an unequivocal yes.
“When we were all light-duty, it was not unusual to have one or two ambulances in the shop at all times, leaving only two ambulances to protect the county,” Taylor said. “We just eat ’em up. ...
“What it comes down to for me is dependability,” he went on. “We’re not breaking down on the way to Topeka with a patient anymore. We’re not breaking down in downtown Kansas City anymore. We’ve got a dependable truck.”
Zimmerman said a fresh draft of the budget would be before the commission on July 25. Before that, a public meeting is tentatively planned for 7 p.m. July 19 at Timmerman Elementary School so that the city can review the budget situation with the public again and take comments and suggestions from citizens.
“My goal is to come back to you on the 25th to say ‘This is how we balance it,’” Zimmerman said.
Storm water fee?
Commissioners reviewed a presentation on whether to establish a storm water utility fee to help pay for flood-control improvements. Right now, most of the infrastructure is rated against a 10-year flood, but Bill Legge and Doug Danaher of Wilson & Co. said in many places that doesn’t cut it anymore.
“Most communities want a higher level of protection,” Legge said.
The sample rate structure presented by WIlson & Co. would set a flat rate for homes, based on a sampling of 20 percent of the houses in town. Other sites, such as business and industries, would have rates set individually depending on how much more runoff they would have than a typical home.
Commissioners said it could be studied by the city, possibly with the assistance of an advisory group drawn from the community. Longbine, though, was reluctant to add a new utility so soon after raising water and trash fees.
“I don’t think the time is right,” he said.
In other action:
F Commissioners applied for $300,000 in grant funding from the Kansas Housing Resources Corporation. The grant would help rehabilitate 20 single-family homes owned by low or moderate-income residents. The city will match $20,000 over two years along with a similar amount of in-kind services and waived fees. The city has successfully gotten this grant four times before.
F Commissioners will allow up to $31,200 to be added to the redesign of the Graphic Arts Road and U.S. Highway 50 intersection because of right-of-way conflicts.
F The commission agreed to allow a beer garden across from Peter Pan Park for the Greater Emporia BBQ Festival. The site would be in a parking lot where the old swimming pool used to be.
F The commission agreed to have Mayor Julie Johnson sign off on the environmental assessment letter for the airport’s runway project. The action does not commit the city to the runway extension, but keeps the wheels turning at the Federal Aviation Administration.
F The staff of the city golf course received a scroll of names from the Kansas Junior Golf Association to be displayed at the course. The plaque shows the names of every golfer that played in the recent 2007 Kansas Junior Amateur Golf Tournament. The city last hosted it in 2004 and club house manager Rich Jaggard said it was unheard of to get it again this quickly, especially for a municipal course. “We’re excited to have it back,” Jaggard said. “We’re not excited about all the work, but we’re excited to have it back.”