Council still wrestling with 2009 budget

The Hutchinson City Council needs to tell McLeod County Auditor Cindy Schultz by mid-September what it intends to collect in taxes from local property owners in 2009. The council and city staff are still scrambling to arrive at that number.

The council on Tuesday re-examined its budget and tax levy projects. It learned action by the Minnesota Legislature last session helped Hutchinson in one way, but hinders it in another.

On the plus side, legislative action increased Local Government Aid, or LGA, the city will receive next year. The flip side, though, is that the city cannot increase its general fund levy up to the newly imposed-state cap of 3.9 percent. Instead, Hutchinson will be limited to a 3.3-percent increase, or a general fund levy cap of $4.114 million.

As is currently proposed, the $11.37 million budget for 2009 has a projected deficit of $39,500, even without any money to continue the city’s mosquito control program. The council may still consider treating stormwater ponds that are potential mosquito breeding areas.

To balance the park and recreation budget, Dolf Moon is proposing the elimination of the outdoor ice rink at Park Elementary and the shifting of those resources and staff hours to the busier summer season.

A public hearing during the council meeting that followed the workshop failed to attract a single Hutchinson resident.

For more, read the Leader’s Aug. 28 print edition.

(Terry Davis is a Hutchinson Leader staff writer. E-mail him at davis@hutchinsonleader.com.)