Northfield City Council to Vote on Preliminary 7.2-Percent Levy Increase

Northfield city councilors will decide Tuesday whether to approve a draft levy that would increase city spending by 7.2 percent in 2012, the first step in a three-month process that will determine what residents pay in taxes next year.

If approved, councilors could not set the final levy—to be voted on by the end of the year—at higher than a 7.2-percent increase. Councilors could, however, choose a smaller increase.

Addressing councilors at their most recent work session, City Finance Director Kathleen McBride told councilors that the $465,000 increase would pay for overlaying two miles of city streets—19 of the city's 75 miles are in poor condition, according to the city's engineers—as well as to restore parks and facilities funding shifted to help with state aid cuts.

The new funds would also pay for three new employees. Two of the employees, McBride said, would work part time to help a thin city clerical team. The proposal for another, a leadership position for the , is being developed by Public Safety Director Mark Taylor to help modernize the volunteer department's practices.

The increase does not account for this fall's planned overhaul of . McBride said the amount could be levied for 2013.

That $402,000 project was not the only outside factor influencing the city's budget. Among the biggest affects on coffers will be state legislation eliminating the Market Value Homestead Credit, a state program that pays a portion of some homeowners' property tax bills.

Because the state has capped the amount cities can levy in the past—levy limits will expire in 2012 until reinstituted—the absence of the credit means that the city loses the ability to levy the amount of money the credit covered. McBride said the effect of the change could be significant.

"Even though you may approve a 5.8 percent increase in the operating levy," she said, "that can become a 9 to 11 percent decline because of the state legislative changes."

Another effect comes from the uncertainty over the future of Local Government Aid in the city's budget, given the state's budget problems and the aim of many Republican legislators to reduce or scrap the program.

After the preliminary approval of the levy, councilors will refine the plan into early winter and approve it in December. For each of the last two years councilors levied about $125,000 more than the year before, or a 2-percent increase.

IF YOU GO
WHAT: Northfield City Council Meeting
WHEN: 7 p.m. Tuesday
WHERE:
WHO: Open to the public