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Program funding: city's budget is your business
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| By: Anita Zimmerman |
October 28, 2009 |
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There are expenses every city must cover and expenses each city chooses to cover. In Chetek's case, city officials say they've tried to ease the tax burden by decreasing discretionary spending and denying organizations' requests for money. As council members review 2009 figures and study the 2010 budget, they will again decide how public funds should be used.
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Mandatory city services include zoning, utilities and emergency services, among other things; general government, public safety and public works are the biggest expenses.
According to Mayor Dianne Knowlton, it costs $45,000 to light Chetek's streets every year.
City officials included funding for the following facilities or services in the 2009 budget:
* Calhoun Memorial Library took in $87,030 in 2009 for wages, utilities, payroll benefits and operational costs;
* A total of $9,500 was allocated for utilities and expenses at city parks; about $11,000 has been spent thus far;
* No money was budgeted for the Chetek Area Calhoun Museum, but the city gave the museum about $300 and council members approved dispersing $1,800 from a $5,000 outlay account for winter utilities;
* The Chetek Community Center, which houses Chetek Senior Citizens Inc., took in about $40,000 for expenses, wages, benefits, utilities, cleaning and building costs;
* Airport costs and profits vary from year to year. Last year, the city spent $2,130 to balance the ledger. The cost of hangar leases has since been raised to reduce the cost to the city; and
* The city allocated $5,500 for fireworks, $7,000 for celebration/holiday events and $300 for conservation and development.
While most taxpayers would probably prefer to see taxes decrease, what council members fear are the unintended consequences that arise when budget cuts have farther-reaching implications than the simple deletion of a line item.
Chetek's airport is a telling case study. The facility is used by a small percentage of the population and is sometimes considered a base for hobbyists. Although the airport is public- and city-owned, money spent on maintenance and upgrades often provokes controversy.
Some city officials, including Clerk/treasurer Carmen Newman, believe the airport's importance to the local business community merits support, and removing it could damage businesses that either provide services to pilots or traffic goods via plane.
In a state-funded study released this spring, the Wisconsin Bureau of Aeronautics found the airport's direct impact on the local economy is $5.15 million. The induced impact is $1.7 million. Combined, the total sales impact is $6.88 million.
Council members try to weigh the potential benefits and drawbacks of doling out public funding. They also want to hear what taxpayers think.
For the budget committee, which includes Knowlton, Alderman Bill Waite, council member Cliff Bronstad, Newman and deputy clerk/treasurer Wendy Sorum, reviewing department budgets is one of the first steps, which includes dealing with astronomical annual hikes in health insurance.
Right now, the city is facing a 38-percent increase in health insurance costs.
"I've worked on budgets most of my working life," says Knowlton. "The way I approach the budget is by looking at what changes are made in our funding and what changes are made in costs from the last budget, then I look at the budget itself and see how it stands this time of year."
Although she knows there's not a lot of money sitting around, Knowlton would like to see funding for youth programs and summer recreation. However, pet projects are never her priority.
"There's a lot of things I'd like to change, but those things come last," she adds.
"I am on the budget committee; there have been several organizations requesting taxpayer money," Waite comments. "My argument was, what right do we have giving the taxpayers' money away without their input? The other members couldn't counter that argument, so there's been several organizations that are no longer receiving taxpayer dollars."
Waite says he wants to see groups first take the initiative to garner their own financing.
"I suggested we (as a council) consider making a donation to some of these organizations, but only after they've sponsored their own fundraising efforts. They ordinarily don't; they just wait for us to shell out money to them. For as long as I'm a councilman and on the budget committee, I will not support handouts of taxpayer money."
The budget committee meets with department heads this Wednesday.
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©The Chetek Alert 2010
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