Mayor could veto FY24 city budget

   With almost 30 items listed on the April 3 Monticello City Council agenda, it was slow-going at the start of the meeting as the council held a public hearing and took action on the FY 2024 city budget.

   The first two items concerning the budget took about an hour and a half as the council heard from concerned citizens, members of the Park Board, and former and current Parks & Rec staff.

   In the end, the council approved adoption of the FY24 budget 5-1 (Council member Brenda Hanken was opposed.), which lowered the city’s tax rate from $16.26 per $1,000 of valuation down to $15.80.

   “We may be revisiting this again,” warned Mayor Dave Goedken, who vetoed a previously approved P&R resolution following the March 20 council meeting.

   Mary Phelan said she analyzed every line of the city’s budget ahead of the public hearing, and wanted to offer suggestions on reductions to save the taxpayers some money.

   “During the last council meeting, I heard some troubling trends,” she said. “Why are we increasing our spending on culture and recreation?” She said while she appreciates all that P&R does for the community, “We can’t fund everything all at once, especially in times of inflation.”

   She asked if there was a strategic plan for P&R.

   “Are there criteria to define a successful program?” continued Phelan, noting that P&R proposed adding 30 additional programs. “The library runs on a shoestring budget and all of their programs are free.”

   She pointed to the 501(c)3 non-profit Friends of the Library that raises money to support the library.

   “That’s one reasons it’s so successful. We have the best library I’ve ever seen.”

   She suggested looking into a non-profit to support P&R.

   “You could go after grants for more money versus spending our own,” continued Phelan. “You can’t continue to place items on the backs of taxpayers, especially people who don’t use the pool or P&R. There’s a limit to how much we want to subsidize.”

   Tom Osborne said he’s looking at an $800 increase in his property taxes.

   “That concerns me,” he said.

   His two biggest issues were the ambulance and P&R budgets. He said city residents were told if the EMS Levy passed, city residents wouldn’t see an increase in taxes.

    “I made my ‘yes’ vote with the belief that city taxes would be lowered.”

   Osborne then presented some data he gathered from the P&R master plan survey that was sent out last summer. He said the responses were all positive concerning the current P&R programming, and there was a majority who would support increasing fees to meet the department’s needs. However, he said two-thirds of the respondents didn’t want their taxes going up to support P&R.

   “I appreciate your fine cuts with the budget, but you need to look at these two departments,” urged Osborne.

   City Administrator Russ Farnum noted that the additional programs P&R is proposing are contract programs, meaning they would create their own revenue streams to support the program.

   The increase in the P&R budget is due to taking over MYBSA, which is an added expense.

   Taking out the one-time expenses, Farnum said the P&R budget is only increasing by $1,000 over FY 2023.

   “You have to budget for those numbers (MYBSA) to offset the revenue generated by the program,” Council member Tom Yeoman explained.

   “There is too much fat in the budget,” said Goedken. “There’s a ton of fat from last year’s budget in here, too. It’s way over inflated.”

   Abby Slauson intended to address the council as a city resident, but also fielded some of the council’s questions as a Park Board member.

   “P&R is always the first to get cut,” she said. “I’d like the council to look at conflict of interest and if anybody benefits from our budget. I don’t benefit from everything in your budget. I don’t benefit from the Sixth Street Ditch.”

   She suggested the council present a workable budget to P&R versus the back-and-forth approach.

   “You’re not raising taxes solely based on P&R,” Slauson said. “If you decrease the budget, we’ll work with it.”

   Shannon Poe, a former P&R employee, said P&R is an important entity in the city, bringing people to town; helping the town to grow.

   “These people spend money in town. It offers people a reason to choose to live in Monticello.”

   She also pointed to previous comments from city leaders about maintaining city employees.

   “Part of that is basic respect. The turnover rate here is not good, since I started in 2018. They need to feel supported as they give you many hours of their time.”

   “People say how dare we question this department,” Goedken shot back. “I’m for checks and balances here. I’m not saying yes to everything.”

   Park Board member Josh Brenneman served on the MYBSA board for seven years.

   “It’s near and dear to my heart.”

   He said at one point, MYBSA brought in $50,000. Right now, there are 67 teams registered.

   “The amount of revenue it accumulates is a lot. I heard from many businesses that they’re swamped because of our tournaments. That has to count for something.”

   “I’d like to see a lower tax rate,” Goedken said. “I’ll veto this because I work for the public.”