City Council Retreat

On a Monday evening in January, the City Council held a short evening retreat to flesh out goals for the coming year.

At the retreat, we created a list of the City's most pressing needs as we see them. We then assigned dollar values to each item -- dollar values informed by recent studies.

The exercise was informative to us, and I felt it would be to you as well. Here's the list:

• Install and repair sidewalks throughout town ($2K per year or $2 million over 10 years)
• Complete upgrades to 1120 North, 900 West, and 700 North ($5 million)
• Open up the railroad crossing at 560 West ($500,000)
• Install traffic signal at 1100 East 50 South ($125,000)
• Install traffic calming devices in streets that serve elementary schools ($200,000)
• Increase City library fund to raise much-needed funds for books, computers ($200,000)
• Purchase land for expansion of cemetery ($3.5 million)
• Purchase land for expansion of public works operations -- and put an end to dumping of street debris at Art Dye Park (!) ($500,000)
• Complete parks and trails, including widening the access to Art Dye and installing parking lots, picnic pavillions, restrooms, and swingsets throughout the City ($6K per year or $6 million over 10 years)

[A few additional items made the list, but we lacked sufficient information to assign price tags. They were: Transition to a full-time fire department, hiring of a grant-writer, and purchase and refurbishment of the Harrington School building for City use.]

Taken together, these fairly basic priorities add up to more than $18 million over and above the existing budget. For a City whose annual budget figures around $40 million, that's a lot of money.

Revenue off the Meadows -- revenue not already committed to infrastructure bonds -- increases at approximately $500,000 per year. Not much relief from that quarter. And if, as we hope, subsequent development at the Meadows accelerates sales tax receipts, those revenues will be needed to offset the City's operating costs, which accelerate with growth.

The property tax increase of two years ago -- the increase that so pained the public -- raised $1 million per year. Conceivably, we could raise taxes again and then complete these projects over the next several years. However, that's a little rich for my blood. Residents can't afford another large tax increase -- especially not during time of economic recession.

The challenge we face is this: How to provide for basic needs with a small tax base and an income that (because of Truth in Taxation) declines steadily in proportion to costs?

Truly, the situation is not so different from what most of us face at home with our household budgets. It's a challenge faced by lawmakers and homemakers everywhere. So if you have any suggestions for me, I'm all ears.