City of Blair Special Council Meeting-Budget Hearing September 13, 2022 The Mayor and City Council met in regular session in the City Council Chambers on September 13, 2022, at 6:30 PM. The following were present: Present: Holly Hafer, Kevin Hall, Mindy Rump, Andrew Schank, Jon Stewart, Kevin Willis, Frank Wolff. Also present were City Administrator Storm, Assistant City Administrator Barrow, Director of Public Works Schoemaker, City Attorney Solomon, and Chief Lager. The Mayor publicly stated to all in attendance that a current copy of the Nebraska Open Meetings Act was available for review and indicated the location of such copy posted in the room where the meeting was being held. Notice of the meeting was given in advance thereof by publication in the Enterprise or the Pilot -Tribune as shown by the affidavit of publication filed in the City Clerk's office. Notice of the meeting was simultaneously given to the Mayor and all members of the City Council, and a copy of their acknowledgement of receipt of notice and the agenda is filed in the City Clerk's office. Availability of the agenda was communicated in the advance notice and in the notice to the Mayor and Council of this meeting. All proceedings hereafter shown were taken while the convened meeting was open to the attendance of the public. Mayor Hansen called the meeting to order and made introductions at 7:00 p.m. followed by a statement of compliance with the open meetings act. Council approved the minutes from the August 23, 2022, meeting. Mayor Hansen opened a public hearing on the Fiscal year 2022-2023 Budget. Presentation of Budget – City Administrator Storm stated this budget hearing is to allow all citizens the opportunity to speak on the budget without a time limit. The budget notice was published in the September 6, 2022, Enterprise edition of the Blair newspaper as required the Nebraska Public Budget Law. Storm then presented the budget for FY 2022-2023 as follows: Proposed Budget of Disbursements & Transfer - $87,135,612.60; Necessary Cash Reserves - $8,891,980.63; Total Resources Available - $96,027,593.23; Personal & Real Property Tax Requirement - $2,606,943.32; Unused Budget Authority Created for Next year - $10,472.95. Breakdown of property tax as follows: Personal & Real Property Tax Requirement for Non-Bond Purposes - $2,347,899.53 and Personal & Real Property Tax Required for Bonds - $259,043.79. The actual budget will be adopted at the regular council meeting on September 13, 2022. The general budget included new laptops for the Mayor and City Council, garage building for the police department, generations park, Optimist boat dock, and improvements in parks. Debt Service will include an additional bond to cover the improvement in West Valley Subdivision. Street includes the bypass, storm sewer replacement and asphalt streets. Water Fund is where most of funds are being expended for expansion of the water treatment plant, the new intake structure, and new 30-inch water main to the bio campus for industry. Staff is working to secure SRF loans for (30) years with low interest and most of the cost being assessed against the industry to guarantee the cost be paid for by the industry as opposed to the taxpayer of Blair. The council previously discussed the budget at its August 23 meeting and no additional changes are being proposed. There were no comments from the floor or in writing. Mayor Hansen closed the public hearing. Mayor Hansen opened Public Hearing to set FY 2022-2023 levy different than FY 2021-2022 levy. City Administrator Storm stated the city would not be required to participate in the joint hearing on September 26 based on our budget, but the city is increasing the property tax levels. Based on the proposed property tax request and changes in other revenue, the total operating budget of the City of Blair will increase by 38.81% most of which is due to plans for the water treatment plant. The new year's property tax requirement is $2,606,943.32. The proposed budget for fiscal year 2022-2023 for the City of Blair will require an increase in property taxes of 8% from the previous year. The city’s valuation increased by 15% for new growth. There were no comments from the floor or in writing. Mayor Hansen closed the public hearing. Meeting adjourned at 6:45 p.m. Richard Hansen, Mayor ATTEST: Brenda Wheeler, City Clerk ZNEZ PT 10-4-22
