Wednesday, October 03, 2007
On the Spot: Budget Hearing 1, the latter part of the meeting
See below for a deeper discussion of the budget. Here are some interesting points from the rest of the evening.
- Sales taxes and the economy: The Lakewood economy is going gang-busters. Based on collections so far, retail sales taxes are expected to be up 12.5 percent, for revenues of about $9.97 million, which even allowing for inflation means a lot more people are buying more stuff within Lakewood.
- Property taxes: Excellent news. Lakewood accounts for about 15 percent of what you pay in property tax (the rest goes for fire, library, schools, state, etc...) It looks like we can hold the *rate* - not the county assessments - but the rate should be less than it is now, $1.10 per $1,000 in assessed value.
- Lakewood would have a reserve of about $7 million in 2008, roughly 18 percent of the relevant budget. City Manager Andrew Neiditz says that most cities have reserves of maybe 9-10 percent if they are very disciplined.
- On the more negative side, Lakewood's got the same issue as other employers. The city's insurance carrier just announced premiums will rise 16 percent next year. My regular readers, both of you, have read before that I am concerned rising health care costs will force us to make tough choices based on what many other cities that are in poorer financial position are already seeing.
- Council members are expressing a lot of concern, as I type this, about some of the salary costs we are seeing. I imagine there will be much more scrutiny. As always ... stay tuned.
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- Sales taxes and the economy: The Lakewood economy is going gang-busters. Based on collections so far, retail sales taxes are expected to be up 12.5 percent, for revenues of about $9.97 million, which even allowing for inflation means a lot more people are buying more stuff within Lakewood.
- Property taxes: Excellent news. Lakewood accounts for about 15 percent of what you pay in property tax (the rest goes for fire, library, schools, state, etc...) It looks like we can hold the *rate* - not the county assessments - but the rate should be less than it is now, $1.10 per $1,000 in assessed value.
- Lakewood would have a reserve of about $7 million in 2008, roughly 18 percent of the relevant budget. City Manager Andrew Neiditz says that most cities have reserves of maybe 9-10 percent if they are very disciplined.
- On the more negative side, Lakewood's got the same issue as other employers. The city's insurance carrier just announced premiums will rise 16 percent next year. My regular readers, both of you, have read before that I am concerned rising health care costs will force us to make tough choices based on what many other cities that are in poorer financial position are already seeing.
- Council members are expressing a lot of concern, as I type this, about some of the salary costs we are seeing. I imagine there will be much more scrutiny. As always ... stay tuned.
