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The Scoop at City Hall |
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“LIFE IS PRETTY GOOD IN VICTORIA” DRAFTING CITY BUDGET AND LEVY FOR 2011 Council held a workshop on August 9th to review the draft 2011 budget for the City of Victoria. It proposes keeping the city tax rate flat at 37.4%. It anticipates property tax revenue and building fees for 40 new homes in 2011. It decreases the overall city budget by $167,275. It decreases the General Fund Levy by $252,462 and decreases the levy for the Victoria Recreation Center by $10,000. It puts money away for the future. Stated City Administrator Don Uram, “Because we run a pretty tight operation, there really wasn’t space to decrease the budget by 2%. A 2% decrease would have affected the overall transfers.’ Councilmember Kim Roden commented on the fact that the city administrator and finance committee had proposed the draft budget anticipate income from 53 homes in 2011 rather than 40, which is the number from the 2010 budget. “That’s quite an increase,” she said. “There are so many pieces to this housing deflation,” she added. “I can’t imagine it being better next year. I can maybe see it staying the same. I see a weak continued employment market. I’d bet on a more conservative number.” Asked Councilmember Tom O’Connor, “How did you arrive at 53? I’m sure you didn’t just pull it out of thin air.” “It’s based on a limited lot inventory,” replied Mr. Uram. “Our major builders are going to continue to build houses. They’ve got room for expansion and additional subdivisions. Fifty-three units doesn’t seem like a huge increase. We believe this is a conservative budget, that we can certainly back it up.” “But we had an $8,000 home credit this year,” said Councilmember Jim Paulsen. “It was a forced buying market.” Responding to a question, Tom Gray, the Victoria Building Official, said the price of a new home in Victoria is around $280,000. With land it’s $340,000. In predicting the number of homes that might be built in Victoria in 2011, Councilmember Paulsen stated, “People have lost half their equity. It would take the wisdom of Solomon to pick that number ... I’d be more comfortable budgeting the same as 2010. We may not have the same housing starts next year.” It was pointed out that projected income in taxes and fees from 53 new homes is roughly $70,000 to $80,000 more than if the budget relied on 40 new homes for 2011. It was pointed out that if only 40 new homes were built in 2011, the “loss” of income could be transferred from the Operating Tansfers portion of the budget where $65,780 is identified as Undesignated. “I’d prefer to leave it the way it is [projecting 53 new homes] because of the $66,000,” stated Mayor Mary Thun. “Using the same rate of growth, we’ll have 59 new homes by the end of this year.” Councilmember Tim Amundsen, however, preferred dropping to the number to 40 new homes and having the $66,000 “on hand” if needed. Commented Councilmember Paulsen, “Looks like we kind of have the revenue to do what we want to do. Life is pretty good in Victoria.” He did comment on $163,000 being budgeted for gas and labor to maintain city parks, trails, fields, and suggested outsourcing could be a solution to reducing that cost. Ann Mahnke, Victoria’s Park and Rec Director as well as Public Works Director, stated, “I think you get a better product with your own employees rather than outsourcing. Life is good here.” Agreed Councilmember Amundsen, “You get what you pay for. With your own employees you get what you demand of them.” *** Looking at more details of the proposed 2011 city budget and comparing it to the 2010 budget, Finance Director Jylan Johnson said it shows an overall levy decrease of 1.39%. She said the total estimated market value of Victoria (including residential, commercial, apartments and “other”) decreased 3.83% -- from $1,090,578 in 2009 to $1,048,784 in 2010. Residential accounts for 95% of Victoria’s market value. Commented Administrator Uram, “It’s like almost all of our eggs are in one basket.”
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September 2010 |
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The Scoop at City Hall |
