Budget Update

The Isanti City Preliminary Budget was discussed tonight. The initial budget request of 17% has been reduced to a 7.8% increase. This increase is still too high. The preliminary number is the highest property taxes can be raised. This is however not a final number. The Council has to set the preliminary number before the final valuations are received from the County. This makes the process difficult at best.

One cut that would have brought the final preliminary number to a 1% increase is an Administrative Assistant. The position, including pay and benefits, is over $50,000. This position was left in by consensus of Mayor Apitz and Council Members Johnson and Larson. Council Member Kennedy and I voted against this addition. We have added a Financial Director and City Planner to the staff this year. We need to wait and see how these positions evolve before anymore positions are added.

The focus of the increases is the Public Works department. This is caused by the need to replace aging equipment and to bring staffing up to an acceptable level. We have reduced 1 fulltime request and replaced with part-time help during the summer months when mowing is at its height. The Public Works request is a direct result from the rapid residential growth we are experiencing.

The fulltime police officer requested for 2006 was also removed from the budget. This I am sure will become a greater need for the 2007 budget.

I also asked to have some more follow-up in the deficit being run in the Water and Sewer Fund. This was caused by the previous Council’s vote to change the billing formula. This has to be rectified. We can not operate at a net loss of revenues.

I believe there should be no increase in property taxes. We need to keep the budget as tight as possible every step of the way. We need to be careful of the idea that we can always cut the budget later. I think this can be dangerous. We do not need to spend all the money we raise. We should be looking for ways to reduce the property tax burden on our citizens.

I will be writing more about this process in the next few days detailing more specifics.