Mayor casts tie-breaking vote to OK 2003 budget

ORIGINALLY WRITTEN CYNTHIA GOERZEN
The Goessel City Council approved the 2003 budget in a tie-breaker vote at the Aug. 15 meeting.

Councilors Raquel Thiesen and Jim Wiens voted for the proposed 54-mill budget, a mill increase from the 2002 budget, while Larry Lindeman and Larry Schmidt voted against it. Councilor Duane Duerksen was not in attendance.

Mayor Peggy Jay cast the deciding vote saying, “I don’t think we have a choice.”

She also said: “Some cities that are not raising taxes have some carry-over. We don’t have any.”

Council member Raquel Thiesen said, “It’s a difficult task to maintain quality of life and not raise taxes.”

It was explained that 2002 revenues will be lower than expected due to an error at the state level in total assessed valuation of the city. Jan Nolde of the Swindoll, Janzen, Hawk & Loyd accounting firm said that a raise of at least 10 mills would be necessary just to break even.

City clerk Anita Goertzen said, “We don’t have anything we can cut.”

The city expects to spend $570,254 next year. The library requested and received an additional 3 mills. Therefore, the budget vote raised the mill levy by a total of 17 mills with the goal of providing slightly more than breaking even.

Goertzen said each mill is equal to $1,856. Total assessed valuation determines how much a mill is worth. The city received its valuation information two weeks ago, which made it difficult to plan the 2003 budget in a short amount of time.

The budget vote came after much discussion and input from the community during the budget hearing. Two council members said they felt there could be other ways of raising the needed revenue. One suggested a sales tax because it would spread the tax burden more evenly. The city currently does not have a city sales tax, according to Anita Goertzen.

The matter of employee health insurance benefit was raised. Health insurance and workers compensation rates have increased. Bethesda Home’s tax-exempt duplexes were also mentioned.

Mayor Jay said a council member is currently researching that matter.

It was pointed out that a substantial percentage of property within the city is tax exempt. Such property would include the church, school, the government-housing apartments, and all of the retirement-home properties.

Council member Jim Wiens pointed out that some cities own their electrical facilities and can gain revenue that way. Goessel only has water and sewer utilities.

“We’re trying to make the sewer fund pay for itself,” he said.

Goertzen added, “There aren’t many things that bring in revenue.”

She said police fines recently had been raised. According to Goertzen, some cities assess a non-refundable utility hook-up fee. There was some feeling that building permit fees are too low.

Jay said the city is working on a telephone franchise to bring in revenue. Anita Goertzen and public works director Arlen Goertzen said they had been to a seminar where they learned that state law requires telephone companies to pay a franchise fee to cities. The city of Goessel has never received any such money but is now in the process of establishing such a fee. The council voted to charge a 75-cent franchise fee per phone line.

Arlen Goertzen said he learned that businesses who use the city’s right-of-ways should pay a fee that would cover excavation and damages. The city has never assessed such a fee.

Anita Goertzen explained that Moundridge Telephone Co. once had sole rights to Goessel, but that has changed. Now any telephone company can service anyone in town. But Wiens said other companies would have to pay Moundridge Telephone Co. for use of the infrastructure.

On another matter, police officer Eric Reed suggested the council consider establishing a curfew for the city park if vandalism continues. But he expressed the hope that vandalism will subside now that school has started.

Arlen Goertzen said he had spent most of Thursday working on the park’s shelter house to repair the damage. Three out of four of the solid core doors had been kicked in. Two of the doors had to be completely replaced, at a cost of $60 to $70 each.

Jay asked about steel doors. Goertzen said they would be substantially more expensive, about $350 each.

Goertzen said a window had also been pried open. But, he added, “There’s nothing in there for them to take.”

Reed reported the police department drove 552 miles in the last month, dealt with a minor in possession of alcohol after the Threshing Days dance, processed a curfew violation that also involved a 15-year-old driving illegally on a restricted license, issued two speeding tickets, helped with a camper fire, investigated one theft and a mother/daughter domestic dispute, consulted with Social and Rehabilitative Services about the poor condition of a rental house, and investigated vandalism damage at the city park.

In other business:

n?The council discussed two “dangerous and unfit” rental properties. The city received reports of mold in the walls and on a tub, roach infestation and an offensive odor. The houses are currently unoccupied, but both had children living in them recently.

As a result, a special investigator and SRS have been involved. The city has hired a housing inspector. Following the inspection, the city can condemn the buildings or require the owner to fix them.

n?Reed said he would like for the city to meet with school administrators to discuss the relationship between law enforcement and the school.

n?Reed said he had checked for a used radar and lights, but none were available. He is hoping to receive grant money for the equipment.

n?A representative of King Design Group attended the meeting to discuss utility mapping and will present an estimate next time. He could provide utility map drawings for the city. Goertzen described the infrastructure map he has already developed. He would like to check with Kansas Rural Water Association about the cost of having them use a global positioning system to determine exact locations.

n?Goertzen described the sewer cleaning that had been done recently. He said the area that had been televised showed 19 leaking joints. He said repair work on those joints has been started. He plans to solicit bids for a three-year sewer-line maintenance agreement.

n?Goertzen said the house south of the city building has been mostly demolished. The city plans to use the property for a parking lot.

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