2019 budget on council agenda
Published 8:54 am Saturday, June 2, 2018
The Austin City Council will begin discussing the 2019 city budget during its work session on Monday evening.
Items to be discussed include:
• 2018 tax levy – the city currently has a total tax levy of $5,941,000. According to the State Auditor’s office, Austin’s total property taxes ranks 220th out 229 Minnesota cities with populations over 2,500. There are currently no levy limits for 2019.
• Staffing issues – the council will consider if it wants to increase the number of employees in any given city department. According to Administrative Services Director Tom Dankert, each additional full-time employee adds approximately $65,000-$75,000 in cost with wages and benefits. Two bargaining units, Police Supervisors and LELS Police Officers, are not signed with a contract into 2019.
• Capital requests – funding, via the Building Fund, has already been allocated for projects through 2019 and the council has to consider any other capital projects it wants to fund. Dankert said the city will need to include $200,000 for the operations of the Community Recreation Center that are expected to start in 2019.
The council will also review an offer from Landmark Dividend concerning acquiring a cell tower land lease the city has with T-Mobile over its use of land at the Wastewater Treatment Plant.
The council will be voting to approve the findings of the 2017 audit during its regular meeting.
The council’s next regular meeting will be at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, June 4, in the Council Chambers located in the basement of City Hall. The work session will take place immediately following the meeting in the conference room across the hall.