MONROE - Monroe taxpayers will be paying 4 cents less per $1,000 of property value next year, if the Common Council passes its 2011 budget on Nov. 16.
The property tax rate for 2011 will be $9.73 per $1,000 of property value. The property tax rate in 2010 was $9.77 per $1,000 of property value.
Next year, the owner of a house assessed at $100,000 will pay $973 in city taxes. The owner of property assessed at $300,000 will pay $2,919.
The decrease in the tax rate takes into account an increase of $7.5 million in property values. The total amount of property values in the City of Monroe rose to $631.8 million for 2010, up from $624.3 in 2009.
The 2011 budget is $13,077,355, which is almost $61,000 less than the 2010 budget of $13,138,297. The total tax levy for 2011 will be $6.15 million, about $46,500 more than, or a .76 percent increase from, the $6.104 million levied in 2010.
The city anticipates less revenue across the board for 2011 - including revenues from state shared taxes and interest on investments - than in 2010. The revenue line dropped about $78,000 from $4.044 million in 2010 to $3.967 million for 2011.
Council members cut another $40,000 from the 2011 budget at a special council meeting Wednesday and passed it on to full council for a final vote.
Paul Hannes, Charles Koch, Keith Ingwell, Dan Henke, Ken Kallembach and Charles Schuringa voted in favor of putting the budget up for full council vote; Michael Boyce voted against. Boyce said he voted against the final changes because the city is still in negotiations with city employee and police officer unions.
Council members had to finalize their cuts Wednesday in order for public notice of the budget to be ready for publication by noon Thursday.
Aldermen Neal Hunter, Jan Lefevre and Thurston Hanson were not present.
Council members started making cuts to the preliminary city budget of $7 million in a series of budget meetings this fall, even after department heads submitted near zero-percent increases.
The last budget cuts were from legal services and from the office of the director of public works. The legal account was cut by $10,000 and left with $110,000.
Council members agreed to cut $30,000 from the director of public works account, because the current director, Kelly Finkenbinder, has announced his retirement effective Feb. 2. Whether the city will refill the position is still unknown. Several aldermen requested waiting for the new city administrator to determine the need to refill the position.
Several line items under consideration for cuts, police overtime, information technology and part-time summer staff, were spared Wednesday.
Paul Klinzing, parks director, and Tom Boll, street department supervisor, protected their departments from a combined $30,000 cut for seasonal employees.
Klinzing and Boll said part-time employees do many tasks during the summer, such as cleaning park shelters, collecting garbage and painting streets, which reduces overtime pay for full-time staff.
Klinzing said the parks department reduced summer help from seven to six employees last year and added more park responsibilities in 2010, including a neighborhood park and a new soccer field. Boll said the street department has reduced the number of its summer employees from eight to five over the past three years.
Council members discussed cutting $10,000 from Information Technology, but IT kept its $60,000 in operating expenses and $20,000 in capital.
The city hired a new computer services vendor, Computer Know How, for 2011, at an expected cost of $30,000. The city also expects to network all its departments under one server.
"I believe, through these changes, if we got all units of the city talking to each other, we would see some real productivity gains," Boyce said.
Police Chief Fred Kelley also avoided a $10,000 cut in police overtime. The department spent about $84,000 in overtime pay in 2009, and is at $95,000 for 2010 to date. The city budgeted $115,000 for 2010.
"I cut back on training and I would love to get that training back," Kelley said. "A better trained officer is less liability to the city."
The property tax rate for 2011 will be $9.73 per $1,000 of property value. The property tax rate in 2010 was $9.77 per $1,000 of property value.
Next year, the owner of a house assessed at $100,000 will pay $973 in city taxes. The owner of property assessed at $300,000 will pay $2,919.
The decrease in the tax rate takes into account an increase of $7.5 million in property values. The total amount of property values in the City of Monroe rose to $631.8 million for 2010, up from $624.3 in 2009.
The 2011 budget is $13,077,355, which is almost $61,000 less than the 2010 budget of $13,138,297. The total tax levy for 2011 will be $6.15 million, about $46,500 more than, or a .76 percent increase from, the $6.104 million levied in 2010.
The city anticipates less revenue across the board for 2011 - including revenues from state shared taxes and interest on investments - than in 2010. The revenue line dropped about $78,000 from $4.044 million in 2010 to $3.967 million for 2011.
Council members cut another $40,000 from the 2011 budget at a special council meeting Wednesday and passed it on to full council for a final vote.
Paul Hannes, Charles Koch, Keith Ingwell, Dan Henke, Ken Kallembach and Charles Schuringa voted in favor of putting the budget up for full council vote; Michael Boyce voted against. Boyce said he voted against the final changes because the city is still in negotiations with city employee and police officer unions.
Council members had to finalize their cuts Wednesday in order for public notice of the budget to be ready for publication by noon Thursday.
Aldermen Neal Hunter, Jan Lefevre and Thurston Hanson were not present.
Council members started making cuts to the preliminary city budget of $7 million in a series of budget meetings this fall, even after department heads submitted near zero-percent increases.
The last budget cuts were from legal services and from the office of the director of public works. The legal account was cut by $10,000 and left with $110,000.
Council members agreed to cut $30,000 from the director of public works account, because the current director, Kelly Finkenbinder, has announced his retirement effective Feb. 2. Whether the city will refill the position is still unknown. Several aldermen requested waiting for the new city administrator to determine the need to refill the position.
Several line items under consideration for cuts, police overtime, information technology and part-time summer staff, were spared Wednesday.
Paul Klinzing, parks director, and Tom Boll, street department supervisor, protected their departments from a combined $30,000 cut for seasonal employees.
Klinzing and Boll said part-time employees do many tasks during the summer, such as cleaning park shelters, collecting garbage and painting streets, which reduces overtime pay for full-time staff.
Klinzing said the parks department reduced summer help from seven to six employees last year and added more park responsibilities in 2010, including a neighborhood park and a new soccer field. Boll said the street department has reduced the number of its summer employees from eight to five over the past three years.
Council members discussed cutting $10,000 from Information Technology, but IT kept its $60,000 in operating expenses and $20,000 in capital.
The city hired a new computer services vendor, Computer Know How, for 2011, at an expected cost of $30,000. The city also expects to network all its departments under one server.
"I believe, through these changes, if we got all units of the city talking to each other, we would see some real productivity gains," Boyce said.
Police Chief Fred Kelley also avoided a $10,000 cut in police overtime. The department spent about $84,000 in overtime pay in 2009, and is at $95,000 for 2010 to date. The city budgeted $115,000 for 2010.
"I cut back on training and I would love to get that training back," Kelley said. "A better trained officer is less liability to the city."