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City Council OK’s $11.4 million budget
by Gregory R. Norfleet · News · April 24, 2024
With a unanimous vote, the West Branch City Council approved an $11.4 million budget for the coming fiscal year.
Property taxes make up $2.49 million of the total, which the city will collect with a $13.19 tax rate.
The new tax rate will bring in about $347,000 more than the current fiscal year.
“With higher assessments, we will raise a little more money and keep the levy low,” Mayor Roger Laughlin said.
Kofoed said the Road Use Tax will provide less than a 1-percent increase in the coming year even though the cost of road repairs increases at a faster rate.
“The price of all those materials way exceeds what we’re getting in increases in revenue,” he said. “We’re cutting it really close right now.”
He predicts changes in the Road Use Tax fund in future budgets.
“I’m hoping, with this budget, and the positive news we’ve got on our assessments in new properties that, hopefully, the property tax reform (means) this is the last phase of major cuts,” Kofoed said. “Now, I’ve also heard word that more property tax reform could get passed in five years. This does not take into account any of that.”
The city administrator said the goal of the budget is “fiscal responsibility.”
He listed off some of the highlights of the 2024-25 budget year, which begins July 1:
• The general fund added a new police officer and raised police wages, which comes to about $250,000 more for the police department.
“It’s essentially a 72-percent increase for the police department,” he said. “On the general fund side, a 57-percent increase due to benefits, which includes IPERS, Social Security, FICA and all that stuff.”
That increase is meant to build the police department up to five officers, Kofoed said.
Finance Officer Heidi Van Auken clarified that the police department’s extra funding is “budgeted” money, not actual spending.
“It is a 71-percent increase in that,” she said. “Adam said it is $250,000 but it’s actually a $314,000 difference, so that’s a lot. That’s just the operational. Benefits is a 57-percent increase. We’re going from $93,277 to $146,830.”
Part of the increase is more wages, and part is more money for benefits. Van Auken said premiums went up 7 to 10 percent.
• The budget cuts a half-time parks and recreation department assistant, which amounts to a 13-percent cut “in the future.”
“You won’t see it on this budget, only because we’re doing some emergency repair on the Hoover Trail bridge where it’s starting to become a safety issue,” he said. “We did retain the parks and rec director.”
The city prioritized this to “retain a family atmosphere, a small-town atmosphere in our mission statement,” the city administrator said.
• The city cuts its Building Incentive Tax Rebate program.
“The purpose, again, in our mission statement, is we’re supposed to be following long-term financial sustainability,” Kofoed said. “That’s where we’re getting a lot of cuts.”
• The city cut a full-time librarian by making a 13-percent cut to the West Branch Public Library budget.
• The city created a new deputy clerk/utility position. The city would pay half of this salary from its water and sewer budgets, 35 percent from its general fund, and 15 percent from its cemetery budget.
“The purpose of this, as we talk a little bit more about accomplishments, you need to have essentially one clerk for every thousand people. As I’ve reminded the council several times, there are increased financial reporting requirements that the state is requiring that takes more of Heidi’s time,” Kofoed said.
He said that to keep insurance deductibles down, the city enters more information manually, which means more hours of work.
“That saved us roughly 50 percent of health insurance costs,” Kofoed said. “And, we’re not increasing as much as we have in the past per year: Only 4 percent increase in health insurance this year.”
• The city cut about 38 percent from culture and arts.
“We’re still funding a title sponsorship in Hoover’s Hometown Days, but we’re no longer the sole leader (of the festival),” he said.
The city administrator shared “positive news,” like a $40,000 surplus in the General Fund.
“As we continue to grow as a community, our reserves have to grow,” he said. “A $40,00 surplus could be used as an emergency for West Branch Fire Department volunteer concerns. But, in theory, it’s getting us ahead of the curve with this new growth that continues to hit us so we have a strong financial reserve policy in our general fund.”
Kofoed said the overall financial news seems “kind of depressing.”
“The last year has been a lot of … just truthfulness. I thought the public deserved the right to know that a lot of budget cuts were coming. You’ve got time in the next year to voice your concerns,” he said.
He said the city made cuts over the past three annual budgets to prepare for “the full effects of property tax reform, inflation, and other unexpected rules.”
“Most cities know that they have to cut more in the next year and the next year but they don’t know what,” Kofoed said. “We’re not in that situation unless some weird curveball happens.”
The city administrator said positive news includes approving a site plan for West Branch Dental Office, going in just west of Fidelity Bank; and a site plan for Advantage Assisted Living, which is intended to go up across the street from West Branch High School.
Kofoed said other positive news includes paying off the first phase of the East Side Water Main project, the roundabout at Cedar-Johnson Road is complete, city building inspector Terry Goerdt receiving a state award for his work, the water department is transitioning to automatic water meter reading to allow for faster leak detection, and the $8.87 million wastewater plant is about 80-percent complete.
He also noted that the Iowa League of Cities selected West Branch to talk about the Heritage Hill development and present it at their annual conference after the developer secured another housing tax credit.
Speaking of the Iowa League of Cities, Kofoed’s list noted that the League presented him with the Rhonda Wood Smith Award for “exemplary work of young city officials and those new to city government.”
Kofoed said the city enjoys “lots of housing development.”
“In the next two to five years, we’re probably going to be at a population of 3,200,” he said. “We’re probably at 2,700 or so. That’s based on the number of units we’re expecting to see and assuming … 2.3 people per household.”
The city administrator noted that the local government hired three new department heads: Library Director Jessica “Jessie” Schafer, Parks Director Erin Laughlin, and Police Chief Greg Hall.
“Fiscal responsibility is goal No. 1. It’s a tough fiscal year, but we prioritized safety and a small-town atmosphere that is historically significant for long-term financial sustainability of the city. There have been many accomplishments despite the challenging fiscal year … and I think the public needs to hear a little bit more of that,” Kofoed said.
“Good job,” Laughlin said before the council voted to approve the budget.
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