BonnerSprings.com

To keep the mill levy as is or to raise it was a main point of discussion during Tuesday night’s Bonner Springs 2011-2012 budget workshop, which focused on next year’s general fund expenditures.

City manager John “Jack” Helin reported the city’s assessed property valuation was down 5 percent this year, which would translate into a decrease of $100,575 in next year’s general fund budget if the mill levy remained the same.

The decrease is tied to next year’s street maintenance project budget, expected to be $140,000 — down $37,783 from the 2010 street maintenance project budget.

Helin said there were several ways the council could address both the decrease in valuation and the street maintenance project budget, and he offered the following options:

• Accept the property tax revenue reduction of $100,575 and keep the property tax levy at the same rate, which is currently 29.065 mills.

• Add $100,575 to the general fund for the street maintenance project budget and increase the levy by 1.684 mills.

• Add $58,172 to the general fund for the street maintenance project budget and increase the mill levy by .974.

A mill is $1 in taxes for every $1,000 of assessed property valuation. Based on the current valuation in Bonner Springs, one mill generates $59,734 for the city.

Helin said option two would raise a homeowner’s property tax a small amount. Option three would also mean a slight raise in the mill levy, but Helin said homeowners wouldn’t see any increase in their taxes because the valuation on the average home in Bonner dropped 3.5 percent. The drop, he said, would balance out the higher tax rate of less than one mill.

Though he said the city “could survive” by keeping the mill levy as is, he recommended option three, saying it wouldn’t hurt the taxpayers and would mean more funds for the street maintenance project budget.

Council member Lloyd Mesmer said he would want to go with option two, as he didn’t mind sacrificing a lowered tax bill for continuous work being done on city streets.

Council member Wayne Gray, however, said the higher tax bill wouldn’t be so attractive to prospective Bonner Springs homeowners.

“You can’t tell (them) you’re going to raise their taxes,” Gray said of people looking to purchase homes in a “down economy.”

The council will discuss the options at the next budget workshop going over special revenue and enterprise funds at 6:30 p.m. Monday, July 19, in the meeting room of the Bonner Springs City Library, 201 N. Nettleton.

Also during the work session, the council took a look at:

• What to do with a $134,082 surplus forecasted for the end of the year in the general fund. Finance director Tillie LaPlante estimated at the time of the council’s budget retreat in May there would be a shortfall in the general fund of $206,325. But through such actions as reducing the contingency funds down to 4 percent from 5.13 percent and reducing all general fund department budgets a little more than 2 percent, the city should be able to come out in the positive.

Recommendations for use of the surplus included maintaining the same 1 percent increase in salaries given in 2010 and utilizing a little more than $13,000 to reinstate merit bonuses for city staff.

• Individual budgets for each department funded by the general fund, including the Bonner Beautiful Commission, Budget and Finance and City Band.

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