City Council To Act On Budget For Upcoming Fiscal Year

West Des Moines IA

22 March, 2022

9:26 PM

Description

Press release from the West Des Moines Chamber of Commerce: March 18, 2022 The West Des Moines City Council will hold a public hearing at its regularly scheduled meeting on Monday, March 21, at 5:30 p.m., to review and approve the City's proposed budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2022 (FY 2022-23). The adoption of the budget is the most important action taken by elected officials each year. The City Council is expected to maintain the city's property tax levy rate at $10.95 per $1,000 of taxable valuation. The tax levy was lowered from $10.99 to $10.95 last year by adjusting the city's Debt Service Levy Rate and by continued low borrowing rates and a reduction in underlying project spending. The tax levy was lowered significantly from $11.79 to $10.99 after voters approved a local option sales and services tax (LOSST) for Polk County in March 2019. The City's FY 2022-23 budget is comprised of basic operating expenditures totaling approximately $89.3 million, business/proprietary expenses of $78 million, debt service expenditures of $37.2 million, and capital improvement expenditures of $54.5 million. These expenditures amount to a total budget of nearly $259 million. The FY 2022-23 Capital Improvement Plan includes: Stagecoach Drive – Jordan Creek Parkway to 78th StreetGrand Avenue – Grand Prairie Parkway to 115th StreetGrand Prairie Parkway – Grand Ave to Raccoon River DriveGrand Avenue – 88th to Grand Prairie ParkwayGrand Prairie Parkway – Stagecoach Drive to Booneville RoadCounty Line Road – Veterans Parkway to Orilla Road The City will receive approximately $8.6 million in Road Use Tax funding during FY 2022-23. Approximately $5.755 million of these funds will be used for street-related expenditures (capital improvement projects and operating expenditures), and the remaining funds will cover street lighting costs and other obligations. The City currently has 542.25 full-time equivalent positions. Fifteen new full-time staff positions are included in the proposed budget, including two police officers, two firefighters, two paramedics and two paramedic lieutenants, a logistics supervisor for Westcom, three dispatchers, an operations specialist in the traffic division, a utility locator in the sanitary sewer division, and a community development coordinator. The proposed Operating and Capital Budgets are reviewed each year during meetings involving citizens, elected officials and City staff. This press release was produced by the West Des Moines Chamber of Commerce. The views expressed here are the author's own.