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Show z Centerville budget proposed ' By TOM I1ARALDSEN CENTERVILLE Citing the need to look towards the future, and compensate lor loss of now-defunct now-defunct federal revenue monies, Centerville's c ty a 'n inistration has proposed and city council has tentatively approved a new fiscal budget for 1988-89. The new budget includes an increase in-crease in the franchise tax on utilities utili-ties from its current three percent to si percent, plus adds a six percent per-cent franchise tax on water usage. Those increases will provide approximately $175,000 in added revenue, which will counteract a loss of nearly $150,000 in federal money. A public hearing on the new budget will be held Tuesday, May 17 at 7 p.m. in the Centerville Elementary School. Input from the public will then be considered before be-fore a final budget is adopted June 7. Tentative approval was given on a 4-1 vote, with councilman Bruce Erickson casting a dissenting vote. That in no way means the budget will be approved as it currently exists, ex-ists, however. The franchise tax increase to six percent puts Centerville at the maximum allowed by state law. Many similarly sized communities are already at that level. Mayor Dean Argyle stated that increasing the tax will enable the city to fund necessary improvements in five areas. "Street maintenance is one of our top priorities," he stated. "If we don't take care of streets as they need minor repairs, we know that in time they will continue to deteriorate and eventually, we'll have to replace the whole roadway. road-way. So it's important that we get this needed maintenance work done on. time." A second area is in parks and recreation. The city is in the process pro-cess of land acquisition for a new city recreation complex. The current cur-rent ballpark and adjoining city property may be sold and redeveloped rede-veloped in the near future, and Centerville's Parks and Recreation Master Plan is being finished at this time. A portion of the revenues generated from the franchise tax increases will be used in parks and recreation. Culinary water concerns are also to be addressed. The city is in need of a new reservoir in the northern part of the community. Water concerns con-cerns have become an increasing problem for Centerville recently. Capital equipment purchases are also planned for. This is an area where the demise of federal revenue re-venue sharing has hit Centerville the hardest. "We usually made our capital equipment purchases with federal money," city administrator David Hales stated. And the city's physical facilities, such as the city offices and shops, are now considered too small and inadequate. Preparation of the tentative budget has been exhaustive. For the first time in its history, the city has prepared a spiral-bound copy of the budget, with very thorough breakdowns of each budget area. And a special budget newsletter, outlining the franchise tax increases in-creases and budgetary proposals, was mailed to every residence in Centerville. "We've tried to form a six-year plan that will help us identify the present and future needs of the city," Mayor Argyle stated. "These are areas that need to be addressed. Our growth projections show that by 1989, we'll have a population of over 11,500, and by 2010, we may have 25,000 living in Centerville. We're looking ahead and planning for that growth, and these increases are necessary not only to maintain the level of services ser-vices we now have, but to work for the future." One other distinguishing characteristic charac-teristic of this year's budget is formation for-mation of a capital improvements fund, something the city hasn't had before. Unlike the general fund, money in the improvement fund can be transferred from year to year without having to be placed back into the general budget. "It will enable us to help project costs for budgeting purposes. Major Ma-jor funds for a project like our recreation re-creation complex can be set aside each year until enough money is accumulated to complete the project," pro-ject," Hales explained. The impact of the proposed $2,004,300 budget would be about $ 120 per citizen in taxes. A garbage rate increase of 65 cents per month is also planned, in order to cover the increased tipping fees the city is paying for hauling refuse to he county's Burn Plant. A more complete breakdown of next year's budget will appear, once finalized, in the Clipper. |