Preliminary Tax Levy

The city annually accomplishes a budget.  With that, both revenues and expenditures are reviewed to meet the goals and needs of each department. Doing this requires a look at each line item of the budget and we determine whether it should be increased, kept the same or reduced.  Sometimes the budget ends up being more than is needed and at times we don’t budget enough.  This review is accomplished for expenditures and revenues. 

Revenues come from general categories such as charges for services, licenses and permits, assessments, and investment income.  Once expenditures are determined and other revenues understood the budget is balanced with the property tax levy.  Most of the revenues the city receives come from property taxes.  

The levy is accomplished in a couple of steps.  A preliminary budget is developed in the summer months for the following year.  That preliminary budget leads to a preliminary levy.  The preliminary levy is a “not to exceed amount”.  It can be reduced but it can’t be increased.  It is certified to the county no later than the end of September.  The county then uses that number to calculate the preliminary tax rate and resultant proposed tax for each parcel of property.  This is sent out to property owners ahead of the public budget meeting that is held in December.

It can be very difficult to get good budget numbers for some expenses when you consider we are trying to budget for expenses that could occur 18 months later.  There are also issues such as health insurance costs that aren’t quoted until after the preliminary levy is accomplished.  Union contracts can also affect budgeting for wage rates.  Other expenses can sometimes be very preliminary in nature.  Having the time between the preliminary and final levy gives the city additional time to fine tune the budget and the resultant final levy amount.   

Given a number of unknowns with the 2018 budget the Finance Committee of the City Council recommended the council start the preliminary levy at a 4 percent increase.  As numbers for various expenses become firmer the levy can be adjusted if desired downward.  As noted however the levy can’t be adjusted upward. 

The city council adopted a total preliminary levy of $1,963,482 for 2018 budget cycle. 

Flood Insurance

With the recent events of Hurricane Harvey it really brings to light the possibility of flooding.  Houston is somewhat low lying and the event was unusual in that the storm hovered for a number of days over the city.  It does point out that properties presumably safe from flooding can experience a flood.  It has also been stated that the great majority of property owners did not have flood insurance.  Homeowners insurance alone does not include flood insurance. 

As we see with this event and Irma the possibility of flooding can occur almost anywhere.  In the not too distant past Breezy Point saw 6 inches rain in less than 24 hours.  We are blessed with soils that provide great drainage but lakes hold water and lake elevations change with rainfalls.  Those areas that are flood prone in our area are primarily lakeshore properties.  These are the properties identified as having some concern when it comes to flooding. 

The City of Breezy Point and Crow Wing County have both recently adopted a floodplain ordinance.  The ordinance provides for some restrictions on building and identifies those areas that are prone to flooding through mapping.  To adopt the ordinance it needed to be approved by the DNR to make sure it met federal guidelines.  With that assurance federally subsidized flood insurance becomes available to anyone in the city that wants it, regardless of location. 

If you are interested in acquiring flood insurance please talk with your insurance agent. 

Public Safety Building Reroofing

The public safety building was constructed in 2004 and sometime after construction we experienced problems with the roof leaking.  An attempt was made to get the contractor to repair it and it was found he no longer existed.  Many attempts were made to correct the problems using “band-aid” approaches with caulk and flashing repairs which had limited success.  Every time we had significant rainfall we had a leaky roof.

It was felt the only solution was to have it reroofed.  We received quotes to do the work but we didn’t have the resources to do the project at the time.  In the 2017 budget we budgeted $52,000 to reroof the building.  Quotes were received from a number of venders and it was felt that a 50 year shingle was a better approach.  This was at a higher cost that traditional shingles.  The quote awarded for this was $56,200.  Once the roofer started the project he found significant water damage.  Fascia boards were all rotting from water damage.  Getting to some of these required the replacement of rain gutters that served the entryways of the building.  The contractor provided the city with a worst case quote to replace the unknown items.  This quote totaled another $12,100.  There really was no turning back, the repairs needed to be made.    

The contractor did what he could to keep expenses in check.  The additional cost for the work that was unforseen amounted to $8,200.  This reduced the possible cost by $3,900.  We solved the problem of a leaky roof but it wasn’t as inexpensive as originally thought.  The additional cost of repair was taken from reserves of the city.