Politics & Government

City Council Prepares for Tough Budget Decisions

Decreased property assessments will mean tough budget decisions for Westminster's City Council.

City Council Member and Finance Committee Chair Dr. Robert Wack reported at Monday night's regularly scheduled city council meeting that lower property assessments would mean more difficult budget decisions in the coming months.

Wack reported that the assessment tax is going to be significantly lower, to the tune of about 15 percent.

"Fortunately for the citizens it will result in a lower tax bill for many, perhaps, most, people," Wack said. "Unfortunately for the city's finances, it will also result in a decrease in revenues."

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Wack said that the decreased property assessments were not a surprise.

"This was not unexpected although certainly unwelcome given all the challenges we face," Wack said.

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Initial estimates suggest that the city's shortfall could be more than $1 million, Wack said.

"What that will do is create another situation where we have to re-look at all the city's priorities and reassess all the assumptions we made about revenue," Wack said. "As we go into the budgeting process, we will have to make some more difficult decisions about how we’re going to handle this."

The budget process requires that the mayor set priorities, which in recent years have included being financially self-sufficient as a city and eliminating the backlog of capital projects.

Wack said city officials made some revenue assumptions in building the current budget which they had anticipated would allow them to have a balanced budget. Now, he said, they will have to reassess.

Wack said some of the questions the city will have to consider will include how much of health care costs can the city continue to pay for staff and whether the city can continue building reserves at its current pace.

He said city officials might also look at extending capital project timelines and moving some of the money designated for capital projects to the general fund.

"We could also look at further reduction of the operating budget although I would submit that it’s pretty lean as it is now," Wack said. "We certainly don’t have much room in terms of personnel reduction, but that would be another area to explore.

"The fun just doesn’t stop," Wack said, sarcastically. "We’ve got another interesting budget cycle coming up."


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