In a work session that lasted more than three hours Thursday evening, Austin City Council members wrangled and tangled and finally trimmed 25 percent off the city’s proposed tax increase for next year.

Friday, November 10, 2000

In a work session that lasted more than three hours Thursday evening, Austin City Council members wrangled and tangled and finally trimmed 25 percent off the city’s proposed tax increase for next year. It will be the city’s first increase in the tax levy in eight years.

Instead of the maximum $200,000 increase the city set for itself in September, the council will increase the city’s tax levy by $150,000 from $2.16 million to $2.31 million.

While that figure represents a nearly 7 percent increase over last year’s levy, most homeowners won’t see the city’s portion of their property tax statement go up that much. That’s because city officials are anticipating at least $60,000 in new taxes to be captured – those are taxes that have either not been on the tax rolls before or which were improved, and therefore worth more – so the average homeowner with a little history in his or her home faces less than a 5 percent increase from the city.

City Administrative Services Director Tom Dankert estimated that the city’s portion of property taxes would go up by less than $50 for a home worth $60,000 that wasn’t significantly improved over the past year.

However, Second Ward council member Roger Boughton pointed out, the city does not exist in a vacuum. Taxes also are on the rise in the county, with the Mower County Board of Commissioners talking about a 17.49 percent increase. How much the school district can raise its levy has yet to be determined by the state Legislature.

"I am adverse to going above the money budgeted for additional police ($95,614) and fire ($53,539)," Boughton said, referring to the city’s promised two extra police officers and the 11th full-time firefighter position currently under litigation.

In the end, the seven council members and Mayor Bonnie Rietz were able to stay below what the city had set aside for extra public safety measures and fund several extra services or projects by pinning their hopes on a federal grant program called COPS, or Community Oriented Policing Services.

If the city qualified under the COPS grant program for two new officers, COPS would pay 75 percent of the wages of a new police officer for the first three years of employment; the city would pay 25 percent. City Administrator Pat McGarvey explained that the police chief had cautioned him that if the government knows the money to cover the positions already has been raised, the odds of getting the grant decrease.

At-large council member Dick Chaffee argued that the city should wait until the force is up to its full-strength of 28 trained officers plus three community service officers.

"Then we can see where we have to go from there," Chaffee said, "Who’s to say we need two officers; why not 10?"

Chaffee was in the minority, however, with the other council members agreeing that the city needs at least two additional officers, but also agreeing to try for the grant first. Cutting more than $70,000 from the amount set aside for police officers left the council some room to negotiate.