Council adopts budget
Published 8:17 pm Wednesday, May 25, 2005
By Staff
After several years of major projects, Dowagiac's FY 2005-2006 budget adopted Monday night for Oct. 1, 2005-Sept. 30, 2006 will be "much more of a maintenance budget," according to City Manager William H. Nelson.
Also, to maintain proper operational revenues, "User fees and water and sewer utility rates will continue to need to be reviewed annually for consideration of modest increases," he stated.
The budget proposed an increase in the solid waste millage rate of 0.0853, but Nelson said overall, the property tax levy of 16.0521 mills is still lower than the 17.7070 mill rate collected from 1993 through 2002.
The city will not have a Headlee tax rollback for the second year in a row as the result of an overall decline in personal property value in excess of 3 percent and a 2-percent decline in industrial base value.
The only new position proposed is in the Police Department, where one new officer was added.
That position and one existing position are assigned to the Cass County Drug Enforcement Team and are fully funded from the countywide millage supporting its operation.
Total city staffing has been reduced over the last several years by cutting the Grounds Director position and the School Resource Officer position, as well as transferring responsibility for library services to Dowagiac District Library.
As presented, the budget reflects no wage adjustments for non-union employees. A 3-percent wage contingency for non-union employees has been set aside as a $35,578 line item.
The budget spells out capital improvement projects for consideration over the next four years.
Capital improvement projects proposed in the FY 2005-2006 spending plan principally relate to maintenance of existing infrastructure, including approximately $82,000 reserved between major and local streets for a relatively aggressive paving program and $10,000 for sidewalk repair and replacement.
Staff will be preparing recommendations for a paving project priority list for these funds later in the current fiscal year, although it is known that work on High Street between Lowe and Tuthill will be included in those recommendations.
Other projects proposed this year include extension of electric service to the industrial park's fourth phase ($213,444) and continued incremental wastewater plant improvements ($240,000).
Utility funds reflect completion of the meter replacement program throughout the city. This has been an ongoing project for several years. "We are on pace to have all meters within the city by end of next year to more accurately record utility usage and to be compatible with technologies that will make the meter reading process more efficient," according to the city manager.
Given current budget challenges and in keeping with changes initiated last year, the Motor Pool Replacement Fund has been revised to lengthen the replacement schedule for some of the city's vehicles.
For example, the replacement cycle for police cruisers was increased from two years to three years. This will reduce the annual payments to the Motor Pool Fund necessary to fund vehicle replacements.
The budget also contains projections for long-term capital improvement projects over a three-year period to allow City Council and staff to consider upcoming projects as they make current budget decisions.
Dowagiac's financial outlook "continues to be adversely impacted by the state economy, including cuts in state revenue sharing funds received by the city," Nelson said. "This continues to be a dynamic issue and staff has utilized the best estimates available at this time. In general, the revenue assumptions made were conservative. Continued cuts will obviously have an adverse impact on the budget and will ultimately result in cuts in service to residents unless the trend is reversed or new revenue sources are identified.
The 16.0521 mills consists of 14.1521 mills for general fund operations, a half-mill for Dial-A-Ride (DART) bus transportation and 1.4 mills for solid waste fund operations.
Finance Director David Pilot is authorized to make transfers between departments or funds of amounts up to $10,000 without prior council approval to maintain a balanced budget.
City Treasurer Robin Coffey's office is authorized to assess a 1-percent property tax administration fee to offset the costs incurred by the city for assessing property values and for the collecting and accounting of property taxes.
A late penalty fee of 4 percent of the city tax levy shall be added to those delinquent city taxes which remain unpaid as of Sept. 16.
All delinquent property taxes collected on or after Oct. 1 shall have an additional 1 percent added each month thereafter to the outstanding balance due.