At Monday night’s Hastings city council meeting, a Public hearing was held on a small,remaining slice of property located between the former Hudson sprayer building and the river. No public testimony was given and the authorization for disposition of city property was unanimously approved. Next on the agenda was the annual Truth in Taxation presentation given by staff member City Administrator Melanie Mesko Lee who reported that the 2018 proposed property tax levy is $13,826,115 The property tax levy is the primary funding source for services including police protection, fire protection, and parks and recreation.
The City levy is increasing 4.18% for 2018. However, due to growth within the city, the proposed property tax rate is actually decreasing 2.34% from the previous year. The city’s tax capacity is 7.57% with the tax rate declining to 60.18% . She also notes that the City maintains two types of operational funds, the Enterprise Fund which consists of utility operations such as Water, Wastewater, Storm Water and the Hydroelectric Plant. The utility funds are funded almost exclusively by userfees and are intended to be self supporting. The revenue coming into the fund is used to pay for current operational costs and to save for future infrastructure repairs and improvements.
According to the report, the city’s Hydroelectric Plant brings in sufficient cash flow to help subsidize the City?s general fund operations. The other fund is Governmental Funds which consists of the City?s operational, project and debt service funds. In addition to property taxes, these dollars are funded by sources including investment interest, local government aid grants, and user fees such as park programming fees, building permits, and licenses. There was no public comment offered in response to the budget presentation.
