Budget Update

The City Council met August 8th in special session to discuss the 2006 Budget. I laid out my stance of no increase in the property tax levy. I also stated my governing philosophy that the city’s growth needs to pay for itself. This ensures that any new growth does not cause current resident’s property taxes to increase. The initial budget, with all department requests, would be a 37.32% increase over 2005. The 2005 budget is $2,677,601 and the initial 2006 is $3,676,956.

The good news is that the Local Government Aid (state aid) has increased by $112,227. The city budget has also increased from the new homes that were purchased last year. This growth has slowed however but will rise once again with the East Highway 65 development.

Each City Department has made their “wish list” request. Public Works has the most requests totaling $280,000. This is due to the need to replace several old pieces of equipment. Public Works is also requesting two fulltime employees. One of these fulltime positions may be offset by part time help during the busy summer months. This has not been done in Isanti before but can allow the fulltime employees to do other work while the mowing of parks, trails and city land is done by part time help at a lower rate, thus saving the city money.

The Police Department has requested one more full time officer and another squad car.

City Administration has asked for an administrative assistant to help several departments with paper work and phone calls.

This is just the beginning of this process. The final numbers will need to be much less. I will be providing more information in the next few days on specific request and the needs of the city.