Alice Pickering
Wyoming Area Reporter

Wyoming City Council set the 2005 city tax levy at $1,320,000 Monday, but no one walked away happy. Council voted 3-1 in favor of the levy with CM Ted Phillips casting the dissenting vote.

Mayor Vern Haag and CM Lynn Koalska wanted to ìkeep the levy as low as possible,î and CM Sandy Standridge was comfortable with the $1.32 million proposal. Phillips favored $1,445,756.10, roughly a 3.25 percent increase in the city portion of taxes, but about $216,000 less than originally proposed.

Administrator Jill Teetzel came into the meeting with memos and data from staff, still recommending the reduced levy proposed at the Nov. 29 meeting, of $1,445,756.10. She said the city operating budget and expenses are already very lean and short-staffed.

As it stands, to get to the $1.32 million-mark, the city has cut capital funding by $130,000; trimmed all $2750 from the social programs (YSB, Family Pathways, etc.), eliminated bike patrol by not funding $3000; not funding $41,400 for parks, postponing the first fire truck payment until 2006, working with Nextel to reduce costs by $6000.

This leaves $121,756 which still must be cut from the budget to make it fit the levy.

ìWe wonít be able to continue staffing at this level; weíll be looking at service cuts,î Teetzel said before the vote. She asked council for direction on where to make additional reductions, so as not to be ìpitted against the management team.î

The agonies are over conflicts to keep the tax burden on residents and businesses as low as possible, yet maintaining needed city services. Koalska, budget liaison, said if the council does not raise the tax rate, the city property taxes will increase because property values have gone up.

In response to Haagís question about budget discussion, Koalska spoke of how difficult the work has been this year, particularly in light of oppositional political campaigning on a platform of reduced city taxes and fees. ìIím dealing with the budget as I always have,î she said

This is the first time the city is not dealing with levy limits. Tax rates are similar to other cities in the area.

ìI think weíve done a good job over the year, tightening our belts,î but not cutting service, she said.

Phillips presented his argument for the $1.445 million levy with percentage-increases, but did not translate these into actual dollars. He said residents would be willing to sustain about a three-percent increase to provide needed city services.

Haag observed it is the state which forces the process; the state legislature has established the tax structure, resulting in new assessments which have climbed. The claim of ìno tax increasesî at the state level only pushes them down to the county and local levels.

Costs for the same services have increased and the city is being asked to do the same things with less income, Haag said.

Teetzel said the city had budgeted $55,000 for the new library, including $10,000 trimester costs for maintenance, utilities, and repairs. Costs between the three East Central Branch Libraries are calculated on a square-foot basis and divided between the three communities. Original plans to enlarge and improve the city parking lots were in conjunction with a new city hall, which has been taken out of the budget.

Any sidewalks now must be paid for by the city. City Engineer Lee Elfering estimated that full reconstruction of the parking lot would cost $130,000, if correctly done. Expansion of the existing lot would cost $92,000. A final choice would be a pedestrian trail to the existing lot at a cost of $15,000.

There is documentation that having a library in a community ìincreases commercial development,î according to Sheree Vincent, Wyoming Area Library Society. She termed it one of the cogs of a full-service community when people consider where to live and work. As a result of the one-year $6.5 million county-wide assessment, the branch library under construction is already on the county tax bill. ìWeíre paying for it,î she said.

More public talk

Comments from residents came after council had an opportunity to speak. At the Nov. 29 meeting there had been little time for discussion in a long meeting, with a lot of citizen input. Clearly residents were upset with total tax bills, but council could only address the city impact.

Resident Dan Babbit again proposed looking at new ways to make reductions, reducing office staff or office hours, checking staffing of all departments, buying instead of leasing vehicles or keeping them longer. Most of these have already been considered.

Commercial property owners were upset about tax increases and the fact tax rates are higher than residential ones.

Ken Andersen, Judy Ohlheiser, and Rodney Hestekin attended.

Hestekin said it would have been good for the old and new council members to have attended the latest EDA meeting.

Business owners cannot afford the hikes of $1400 to $1500 in annual taxes, he said. He urged a ìlook at what weíre spending.î

Andersenís comment is that with a one-time purchase sales tax is paid, but with his tax rate of 3.25 percent annually, he pays a sales tax on the value of his property every two years. ìThe same people being charged more,î he said.

In final comments Koalska said, ìI want to hold my taxes and want to increase services.î She proposed seeking a grant to help with the comprehensive city planning instead of hiring a city planner. Perhaps smaller firefighter wage increases, of $16 instead of $18 an hour are in order. In addition, the city needs to approach union negotiations with an eye to fairness, but also keeping costs down.

Phillips said he wants to keep city services at as high a level as possible, being careful with tax dollars. Standridge feels the same way, but ìweíll just have to tighten cuts,î perhaps contracting some work for Parks in the summer, or even with city hall staff.

Based on Teetzelís home values of some residents who attended the Nov. 29 meeting, she illustrated the dollar impact on Wyoming households in 2005. A home valued at just under $139,000 (the lowest value given), the monthly city tax increase will be about $7, or $84 a year.

For a home valued at $247,000 (highest home value illustrated) this will amount to a little more than $12 a month or $144 a year in city taxes.

Approval of the levy as Phillips proposed would have increased the monthly city taxes on the same homes about $9.65 and $17.30, respectively.

The levy decision leaves the incoming council either with the job of making cuts in budgets or forcing Police Chief Tony Pangal, Maintenance Supervisor Bill Eisenmenger, Fire Chief Dennis Berry, and Teetzel to operate with the reduced budget, making reductions in many places to get the budget down enough to fit within the money available.

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