By Theresa Goffredo
Herald Writer
MARYSVILLE — A downturn in the stock market. Another voter initiative capping property taxes. The devastation of Sept. 11.
These were among the sobering points Marysville Finance Director Sandy Langdon mentioned in her written introduction to the city’s proposed budget for 2002. Somber thoughts, but a necessary message as the city prepares for a "very lean" budget year, Langdon said.
That could end up being good news for taxpayers as they face an average increase of just $28 a year.
For Marysville Councilman Mike Leighan, the city isn’t keeping its fiscal responsibility unless it approves a 6 percent increase, the same as last year.
"We have an obligation to do that," Leighan said. "A question you might ask, $28 a year, is that going to change your lifestyle? That’s one less latte a month. And what are the things you are getting in return? You get additional police officers and parks."
For instance for this year’s proposed budget, the police department is recommending a school resource officer to be stationed at Marysville High School and a custody officer to handle jail matters.
The parks department is asking for two staff members to form a new right-of-way maintenance crew. The crew would be responsible for keeping trees, shrubs and lawns looking neat along the city’s roadways, public trails and sidewalks.
Jim Ballew, parks director, said his goal for the new crew is to improve Marysville’s image.
"I’m a resident here, and I’m not happy with the way our community looks," Ballew said. "We need to upgrade the image coming into neighborhoods. We don’t expect to be mowing everyone’s front lawn, but we want to start dealing with some of the impressions."
The total amount city leaders propose to spend to run Marysville in 2002 is $68.6 million. Those expenditures include the necessities, such as salaries and operating the sewer treatment plant, but also include a few new items such as a school resource officer and a maintenance crew to improve the city’s looks.
The budget doesn’t have winners and losers, Langdon said. All city employees are expected to keep their jobs.
"We’ve tried to be as fair as possible across the board," she said.
There’s a projected $14 million in the general fund for 2002 — an increase of about 11.3 percent over the 2001 general fund amount.
The general fund is the pot where the city keeps its main sources of revenue, money collected through property taxes, sales taxes, business tax and charges the city assesses on such things as utilities.
Part of that $14 million in general funds comes in the form of a proposed property tax increase of 6 percent. If the council approves that increase, then homeowners can expect to pay about $449 a year in property taxes or $2.40 — the portion the city collects on property taxes — on every $1,000 of property tax assessed on a home worth $187,500. That’s an increase of $28.20 over last year.
But the city may decide not to approve the 6 percent increase based on what voters do with Initiative 747 in November. That ballot measure would directly affect what the city can collect by limiting the annual increase for property taxes to 1 percent, as opposed to 6 percent.
If I-747 passes, Marysville stands to lose between $180,000 to $200,000 in property tax proceeds that would have gone into its general fund, Langdon said. That means city leaders would be looking at a Plan B — a preliminary budget reflecting the 1 percent property tax assessment. Taxes would go up only an average of $7.78 in that case.
You can call Herald Writer Theresa Goffredo at 425-339-3097
or send e-mail to goffredo@heraldnet.com.
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