The City of Carroll is working to schedule a public hearing date of March 7 for the proposed Fiscal Year 2017 budget. They will finalize this hearing date at their next meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 23. City Manager Gerald Clausen said these are the necessary steps to provide adequate time for staff to review and make necessary adjustments so the public understands the money is being properly cared for and appropriated. The budget must be certified by the Carroll County Auditor by March 15, and Clausen said they don’t want to wait until the last minute for the deadline that is rapidly approaching.
After the budget is in place and taxes certified in the levy, the council then can amend the budget but they cannot amend the amount of money they receive through taxation. That is set.
In order to expend more in a specific area, the city has to make sure that they spend within the budget limits and work together to move the resources accordingly. Clausen said highlights of the FY 2017 budget are that the general fund balance is projected to be at 25.7 percent of revenue.
Other notable highlights include the debt service levy is down from 1.288 to 1.287. The debt as a total of the legal limit is slightly over 11 percent, which means the debt is on the low end of borrowing capacity. The last 6.5 percent multi-year sewer rate increase will be on July 1 and the Local Option Sales Tax and Hotel Motel balances are in the black. The Capital Improvement Plan includes proposed plans for the Street Maintenance facility, High Ridge Road and 3rd Street improvements as well as construction at the intersection of Highway 30 and Grant Road, but Clausen said that project will likely not be under construction until calendar year 2017, Fiscal Year 2018. And, the overall levy in the proposed budget for the city is mostly flat, modestly down from 11.58 to 11.57 percent.
