By Dave Fidlin
Correspondent
After six weeks of intensive review, Whitewater officials have minted the city’s 2017 budget. The document includes trims to the operating budget in year-over-year comparisons and an increase in the amount the municipality is levying taxpayers.
The Common Council on Nov. 15 unanimously approved the budget, which City Administrator Cameron Clapper unveiled in early October.
Next year’s budget totals $575,660, or 5.89 percent, less than this year’s budget. The city’s 2016 budget came in at $9.77 million, while next year’s bottom line is $9.20 million.
The property tax levy, meanwhile, is increasing 6.48 percent, from $3.14 million a year ago to $3.34 million.
State law caps how much municipalities are able to increase the levy each year. The threshold is set at the amount of net new construction within the past year for all parcels — commercial, industrial and residential — within the city’s limits.
Finance Director Doug Saubert said the city brought in $8.30 million in new construction this past year. That dollar figure was distilled into a formula that determines the permissible amount of levy increase, as specified within Wisconsin’s statutes.
The budget and levy numbers approved by the council were the same figures presented in Clapper’s initial draft version of the budget.
What has changed since the budget was first unveiled are known figures for the tax, or mill, rate, which plays an important part in determining what the levy means for an individual taxpayer.
Saubert said the tax rate within the city’s limits will vary, depending upon which county a taxpayer lives.
In Walworth County, the tax rate is $5.98 per $1,000 of assessed value. City taxpayers within Jefferson County will pay based on a tax rate of $5.92 per $1,000 of assed value. Tax rates increased within both counties this past year.
The council’s motion last week sets the stage for a number of provisions within the budget, including an overall operating plan that is essentially status quo, despite a few nips and tucks to the document itself.
Clapper’s $9.20 million spending plan includes the allocation of $3.31 million toward public safety. Mirroring years past and a scenario in most other communities, the police department is the largest recipient of city dollars.
The overall funding pie also includes $1.54 million toward general government functions, including administrative duties. The council has backed a plan that calls for earmarking $1.19 million toward culture and recreation and $1 million toward public works.
As part of their motion, the council also approved the city’s three utility budgets for the year ahead.
The wastewater utility budget clocks in at $11.21 million, while the water utility has been set at $1.96 million. The stormwater utility, meanwhile, has been set at $1.60 million.
The adopted resolution also recognizes the city’s six active tax-incremental financing (TIF) districts, which have balances of $1.84 million.
Prior to taking one last comb through of the budget, the council held a formal public hearing at last week’s meeting. No one spoke for or against the document.
