Grace Kirchner Leader Correspondent
The Clintonville Common Council voted 9-1 earlier this week to approve a new city budget that calls for a 28-cent increase per $1,000 assessed valuation.
On an $80,000 home, the increase will be $22.51. The total levy for the city next year will be $1,986,043.
The budget includes a 3.5 percent wage increase for all non-represented city employees, and requires city employees to contribute more to their health insurance. City Administrator Chuck Kell said the employees did not receive a pay increase last year. Non-represented city employees will be asked to pay the first $500 of their Health Savings Account (HSA) deductible and the first $500 of their Health Reimbursement Account (HRA) deductible.
The hiring of an employee for the Park and Recreation Department and an employee in City Hall will be delayed until February.
To balance the budget, $55,051 will come from the city’s undesignated fund balance. Kell said the city has a healthy fund balance.
The total debt service is $1,145,141. The tax levy will cover $757,253 of that total. The balance will be paid by collection of special assessment, TID funding, and utility user fees.
Kell told the council that the city will need to borrow in 2016 to fund some of the capital improvements and to construct the new wastewater treatment plant.
The budget will meet the expenditure restraint limit, which will qualify the city for approximately $80,000 of expenditure restraint revenues from the state.