Mendota Approves Flat 2012 Levy, Spending Cuts

The Mendota City Council approved a flat levy and an 8.6 percent decrease in spending for 2012 at their meeting Tuesday night at the .

While the levy will remain flat, the budget will again require a dip into reserves.

The city will collect $151,860 from property taxes, the same amount as in 2010.

Homeowners could still see a small increase in their property tax obligations due to a new program at the state level that reduces the market value of properties for tax purposes, causing the tax rate to increase to capture the same amount of money.

The city’s reserves are about $38,000, according to City Clerk Jennifer Bruestle, bolstered by $13,184 of Local Government Aid that the city had not budgeted to receive in 2010.

The difference between the city’s revenue and expenditures is $14,114.13.

The reserves will be kept in a money market account, and used at the end of the year should the city need it for operations, said Mayor Brian Mielke.

A comparable dip was to cover roughly half of the anticipated drop in Local Government Aid. The other half was passed on to tax payers.

Payments for service, a point of , will increase slightly from $65,742 to $69,882. The city will also make a “catch-up” payment of $22,357.33 because of a transition from end of year payments for police protection to month-by-month payments.

The city is adding a $5,000 budget for road repairs, and eliminating expenditures for pond maintenance, among a variety of adjustments.