Small Town News

How city spends $1.3 million

---

There are few new projects and no tax increases, but costs rise

The $1.3 million budget for the City of Moville for the coming year holds few surprises.

Many projects have been delayed until another year so the city's property taxes do not increase for landowners who live within the city. And other projects have been either scaled back or will have to cost under the budgeted estimates or they will not be accomplished.

And while city departments requested some new equipment, not much is included for the coming year. There's a new police car -- to replace the current vehicle which has been demanding more repairs and has over 116,000 miles on it. And there is a new pick-up for the streets department, replacing one that is quite old and is also requiring more servicing each year.

And city employees will all receive a three percent raise in the coming year.

But, other than that, the budget is pretty tight in all areas.

And while there will not be a general property tax increase, there will be some increases in fees, including an increase in water and sewer fees. Those fees, however, are only used to cover the actual costs of providing those specific services. The money is not used in any other areas.

The city's budget for fiscal 2010-2011 is $1,321 million.

That includes all the projects to operate the city next year, along with funds to pay the city's debt. It includes the cost of operating the city's parks, library, pool, community center, fire and police departments, the street department, the water distribution system, the sewage lagoon, the cemetery and the other smaller units that make up the city's total expenditures (like the cemetery, the senior center and the youth recreation system,)

The city expects to take in a total of $1,276 million.

That figure includes all the revenue the city expects to receive this year from taxes, fees and grants.

It includes $269,000 in property taxes and $130,000 the city will receive from local option sales taxes. It also includes $160,000 from water bills, $175,000 from sewage lagoon fees, $110,000 in garbage collection fees and $155,000 in funds from the State of Iowa that must be used for streets and road projects. And it also includes income from the community center ($35,000), the swimming pool ($27,500), and money that rural townships pay for fire protection ($59,000)

The city has debt in three areas that it must pay next year. It is paying on a bond issue voters approved for building the Moville Area Community Center and Woodbury County Library. It is paying for a street construction project it undertook several years ago which paved an extension of Logan, Glen and North Fifth streets into residential areas that can be developed. And it is paying for an expansion project at the city's lagoon that the state required several years ago.

In all, the city will pay about $140,000 in debt service this coming fiscal year.

Here is a look at the various departments in city governrment and what it costs to operate thern: POLICE DEPARTMENT: The police department budget increases from $131,000 to $163,000. Almost all of that increase is aimed at purchasing a new police car. The department also has $80,000 in salaries for its two full-time officers and the part-time help it occasionally hires.

The department will also pay $16,000 for health insurance costs for its employees.

FIRE DEPARTMENT: The Moville Fire Department budget increases from $21,000 to $61,000. Most of that increase, however, will be covered by income from a $40,000 federal grant the department has received to update much of its equipment. Evem though the money is coming in thirough a grant, the city must still listt it in its budget expense, and incliude the grant money in its revenuie. The department has no salary costs since it is entirely manned by volunteers. MOVILLE AREA COMMUNITY CENTER: The Moville Area Community Center will have expenses of $39,000 in the coming fiscal year, but will have revenues of more than $35,000. The revenue connes from two main sources: rents that people who use the community center pay and the rent that the Woodbury County Library pays for its space. HASKELL POOL: The swimming pool is an expensive ~ but heavily used -- element of the city's budget. The pool will take in $28,000 in income from folks who use the pool. But expenses are almost two and a half times the income.

Expenses will amount to $70,000 for the year. $28,000 of that is for salaries, $9,000 is for utilities, $5,000 for chemicals for the pool and $7,500 for insurance. The city will do some concrete work this summer to repair some chipping around the pool that the state inspectors want repaired.

CITY HALL:

The budget to operate city hall is increasing from $115,000 to $144,000. Much of that increase is caused because the city is handling bills for the coming quasquicenten-nial in 2012. However, the town's 125th anniversary will receive very little city money. Most of the money will be raised by the committee that is organizing the celebration under the auspices of the Moville Community Development Assoc, Inc., which is sponsoring the quas-quicentennial. Those funds will be deposited with the city and used to pay the expenses.

The budget for city hall includes $51,000 in salaries plus another $13,000 in health insurance costs. And some of the assistant clerk's salary comes from the water department, since much of her time is spent with water bills. The salaries portion of the budget also includes stipends for the mayor and council.

CITY PARKS:

The costs to maintain the city's parks and recreation areas will be $65,000 next year, about the same as the amount used this year.

The costs include $31,000 for a portion of the salaries for several of the city's maintenance employees who spend part of their time working at the parks, and for a person to work part-time during the summer. Their share of health insurance costs amount to $6,000. But most of the rest of the money is spent on equipment maintenance, utilities, insurance and a small amount of park improvements that are planned

STREET DEPARTMENT:

The city will spend almost $230,000 to maintain the repair the city's streets for the coming year. That figure includes $31,000 in salaries which pays a portion of the salaries for the city's maintenance employees. More than $7,000 will go toward employees health insurance costs. And $12,000 will be budgeted to pay for snow removal. Another $19,000 goes to pay for the city's street lights.

Among the new projects included in the budget this year is $55,000 for resurfacing east Main Street.

WASTEWATER:

The operation of the city's lagoon will get more expensive next year because the city will have to repair some sink holes that have developed. That repair could be expensive, and the city has allocated $37,000 to that project. The total departmental budget will rise from $137,000 to $166,000 next year, largely because of those repairs.

The department budget contains $9,400 for health insurance for the department's share of the employee costs, another $15,000 in repair work, $15,000 for utilities.

WATER DEPARTMENT:

The Water Department provides the fresh drinking water from the city's wells and water tower that every home uses.

The budget is sizable - $ 170,000 -- and is up only slightly this year.

The costs include $35,000 in salaries that go toward the city's maintenance employees and a portion of the assistant city clerk's salary. Health insurance costs are almost $9,500.

The city will spend $23,000 to maintain and clean the lines and water tower, more than $6,000 for the utilities, and more than $14,000 for chemicals that are added to the water. The city is also involved ina project to replace all of the city's older water meters with new meters that can be read automatically, rather than requiring meter-readers to view every home's water meter. $15.00 will be spent this year.



Copyright 2010 Moville Record, Moville, Iowa. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from SmallTownPapers, Inc.

© 2010 Moville Record Moville, Iowa. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from DAS.

More from Moville Record