HUMBOLDT - The Humboldt City Council approved the 2012-2013 budget Monday.
The total proposed property tax levy is $15.90 per $1,000 taxable valuation, according to City Clerk Gloria Christensen.
"That includes $8.10 per $1,000 for the general fund levy," she said.
Approximately 10 cents is for the transit levy, 25 cents for the liability and property tax levy, 82 cents for the unified law enforcement, 27 cents for the emergency fund, $2.51 for the employee benefits and $4.86 for the debt service levy.
"In comparison with last year, our total levy increases by about 63 cents," Christensen said. "If you take out the debt service levy this year our levy would be $12.04. Last year it was $12.16 per $1,000 so it has gone down a little. Our debt service levy has gone up because of our additional borrowing which was kind of expected."
"The reason the levy went down is we really tried to reign in spending as much as possible," City Administrator Aaron Burnett said. "We pulled back on a lot of capital projects within many of the departments to try to ensure that our bond rating stays strong over the next few years."
A large part of the budget is dedicated to the water plant renovation and the water tower project which are already financed through a bond issue, Burnett said.
The budget includes a two percent increase in wages for city employees, and a 1.5 percent wage increase for the police department.
General fund revenues are projected to be $1.8 million with expenditures of $1.7 million. The road use fund is expected to have revenues of $440,000 and expenditures of $740,060. There will be a transfer of $200,000 from the Local Option Sales Tax Fund to fund street improvements, and $100,000 from the Streets Capital Projects fund.
The water works fund is projected to have revenues of $1.1 million and expenditures of $746,468. The excess funds will be used for the water plant renovation.
The sewer utility fund is projected to have revenues of $1 million and expenditures of $635,175.
Contact Robert Wolf at (515) 573-2141 or editor@messengernews.net