New Brighton City Council members this week voted to adopt a preliminary property tax levy of just more than 7-and-a-half million (.619 million) for 2010. If the council should finalize that total in December, the levy amount would represent an increase of about 3 percent over the city’s levy for 2009. There are a few key factors behind the proposed levy increase. City staff project that building permit revenues will remain low in 2010, with plans for new construction or home improvements not yet expected to rise back to pre-recession levels. A larger proposed levy also reflects a street reconstruction program that began in 2008, and city officials expect deeper cuts next year to the Local Government Aid and Market Value Homestead Credit funding which New Brighton has received from the state. The city will be saving money in 2010 by prohibiting any cost-of-living adjustments or step increases for its employees. The city has also eliminated three full-time positions of assistant community development director, recreation supervisor and marketing events coordinator. Through the end of 2009, the city is keeping its positions of city forester, deputy director of police, and senior engineering technician/supervisor all vacant, but will move to fill those three positions in 2010. New Brighton council members will have opportunities now through November to study the city’s proposed budget for 2010 and consider any further reductions. The preliminary levy figure is the highest …

No Comments »

No comments yet.

RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URL

Leave a comment

You must be logged in to post a comment.