After months of discussion, Humboldt city council has passed the 2016 Budget.
The over $19 million budget is balanced and includes long term capital projects that need long term funding, including the storm water management program that the city has introduced, says City Manager, Roy Hardy.
“We feel the budget at the end of the day is still a reasonable amount that addresses some of our most important issues and priorities that council has identified.”
Property tax will increase by around 4 per cent which Hardy says is really well distributed among commercial and residential property owners and the different levels of home value.
The biggest challenge this past year has been responding to storm water events, including water system upgrades and water management in Centennial Park.
This has inserted itself into this years budget, says Hardy.
“The way the city is structured today, that’s what we have to deal with.”
Residents will have to step up and make sure Humboldt will be equipped to handle more extreme storms, says Hardy.
An extra $39 storm levy is being added at the last half of 2016, which will go towards storm water system capital projects and amounts to $6.50 a month added to utility bills.
“We have a 5 year plan of capital expenditures and we basically had to increase it that much to be able to cover those costs.”
With the increases, Hardy says they are not losing ground on the desperately needed infrastructure and storm water upgrades.
The city has also set aside $250,000 to cover any projects that may be needed over the next year. If these funds are not used by the end of the year, they will go into a reserve fund for 2017 projects. An extra $50,000 will go into a reserve fund specifically earmarked for a new theatre and fieldhouse addition that will be part of the new multiplex upgrade.
“This demonstrates the intent that over time, the community wants to see this go forward,” says Hardy.
It’ll take some time to complete the new multiplex but this contribution makes it known that the city wants this initiative to go forward.
Working with the priority based budgeting system, Hardy says that council has commented that they received useful information to make good budgeting decisions.
This is credit to the staff, says Hardy.
