Home / Local News / North Bend council says no property tax increase
November 21, 2012
By Michele Mihalovich
Just because we can raise property taxes by 1 percent every year, doesn?t mean we should, North Bend City Councilman Alan Gothelf said at the Nov. 6 public hearing on the city?s budget.
?This is not the time to increase property taxes on our citizens,? he said.
The rest of the council agreed.
The small property tax increase would only have added $12,000 to the city?s coffers in 2013 if it had been approved, said Stan Lewis, the city?s finance director.
And, as it turned out, North Bend?s budget is going to balance in 2013 without the slight bump in taxes.
Mayor Ken Hearing told the council that the past few years have been extremely challenging for the city, but that 2012 saw ?a slight recovery.?
Revenue from the real estate excise tax went from $129,634 in 2011, to an estimated $210,084 this year. The 2013 budget anticipates $162,000 in REET revenue.
Utility tax is expected to take a dip in 2013 because fewer people are using landlines these days, Hearing said.
He said revenue from the business and occupation tax is expected to go down due to changes in the state law.
North Bend expected to receive $730,000 from the tax this year, but is only going to receive $640,399. The city is budgeting $660,000 in B&O revenue in 2013.
One employee, a part-time payroll officer who was making $56,459 with salary and benefits, left the city this year, according to City Attorney Londi Lindell.
North Bend is now contracting payroll services with the city of Snoqualmie, at an annual cost of $12,000 to $15,000, she said.
A GPS mapping position will be going from full time to part time in 2013, Lindell said.
Ron Garrow, director of public works, is retiring in December and has cut some of his hours. Lindell said Garrow will bring in a salary of $91,182 this year, and his replacement, Frank Page, will be paid $96,348 in 2013.
Only 12 city employees will receive raises in 2013. That group, 12 unionized public works employees, signed a contract with the city this year and will receive a 1 percent cost-of-living raise.
Lindell said the top-end of their monthly salary ranges in 2012 were $4,636 to $5,530, and will go to $4,682 to $5,585 in 2013.
The mayor said the city expects to pay $1.4 million in infrastructure improvements in 2013, which will be offset by $400,000 expected from the Transportation Benefit District tax.
North Bend will have to pay the city of Snoqualmie $384,000 in 2013, the start-up costs to prepare for the Snoqualmie Police Department taking over police services for North Bend in March 2014.
The King County Sheriff?s Office currently provides that service. The 2013 budget for law enforcement and jail services will cost North Bend $1.6 million.
The downturn in the economy has affected another aspect of the city?s budget. Human service requests in the city ?have continued to exceed our available resources,? Hearing said. ?However, I am recommending an increase in spending from $79,000 in 2012 to $87,000 in 2013.?
Some of the benefitting organizations for those funds include the Mount Si Helping Hands Food Bank, Encompass, the Eastside Domestic Violence Program, St. Vincent de Paul and the Mount Si Senior Center.
When all is said and done, North Bend?s general fund is expected to receive $6.6 million in revenue, spend that same amount in 2013 and hold 10 percent of its budget in reserves.
The City Council approved the budget, and will make its final adoption Dec. 4.
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Michele Mihalovich: 392-6434, ext. 246, or editor@snovalleystar.com.
Written by Michele Mihalovich ? Filed Under Local News?
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Source: http://snovalleystar.com/2012/11/21/north-bend-council-says-no-property-tax-increase
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