The city has maintained a minimum usage amount for both water and sewer for many years. For each billing cycle there are a considerable number of customers who use less than the minimum, but are charged the base rate.

The current minimum water & sewage bill is now $75.74. As you may be aware, there are many fixed costs associated with our water delivery system. These include administration costs, infrastructure maintenance costs, meter readings etc. Those costs are largely the same regardless of the usage by any particular household. The minimum charge is designed to take these factors into account as they are fixed and not directly associated with the amount of water consumed by most customers.

In my estimation there is justification for a minimum charge to our water customers. However, at this point in time I am not clear on just how much this minimum bill should be . The city council has already decided that the topic of a minimum water charge will be discussed at our Goals & Objective meetings that begin in January of 2010. At this time the council will deliberate and decide what minimum charge, if any, should be levied to keep our water delivery system properly funded.

I would recommend that anyone who desires to have input on this matter contact any member of the city council to express their feelings. Contact information for all council members can be found at the city website.

With income tight and property values falling, many councilpersons, including myself, believed that a tax cut was necessary. After carefull deliberation, four days of budget meetings and hours of discussion, I am happy to report that we completed the budget process on Monday, March 21st.

City Income Will Fall in 2008

Income expectations are expected to fall this year, largely due to falling property values within the city. As a result of these falling values, the city expects to take in approximately .3 mills less in property taxes this year compared to 2007.

Eliminate the “Assistant City Manager” Position

We reviewed and completed the various department level budgets, and I am pleased to report there were no reductions made to city services. There was one change in staffing levels, however.

The council opted to eliminate the “Assistant City Manager” position, which was left vacant after the retirement of Carl Renius in February of this year. Replacing that position will be a new “Assistant to the City Manager” position.

This change in status will likely result in the employment of a younger Assistant who has expectations of future employment in the capacity of an Assistant City Manager or a City Manger.

The expectation is that this change in position will save the city approximately $30,000.00 per year without any reduction in city services.

Core City Services

I am pleased to report that there will be absolutely no reduction in core city services in 2008-2009. In fact, several significant changes were added to various department level budgets that are likely to increase the effectiveness of city services. But at the very least, no cuts were made.

Discretionary Spending

The biggest difference that took place in this years budget review was how the council addressed dispensing the discretionary income. This is the portion of the income that remains after budgeting for all core city services. This year that amount approximately $832,000.00.

The council took a very deliberate and cautious approach to studying all items that were discretionary in nature. When the final budget was complete, I am delighted to report that we had a remaining balance of .9 mills after all spending was complete. The council decided to return this .9 mills to the taxpayers in the form of a tax cut for 2009. This equates to approximately $690,000.00 that will be returned to your pockets.

The Final Result

There were no cuts to core city services. Several enhancement were made to department level budgets. Spending was critically reviewed and the fat was cut out of the budget. Money was returned to the taxpayers. It’s a win-win situation. And best of all, not a single dime was taken from any of the city fund balances. Not one penny.

Some people said that it couldn’t be done. Guess what? They were wrong and I am delighted to say so!