Preliminary budget shows 7 percent decrease in Harris

By Danielle Strenke
Harris residents received good news at the cityís preliminary budget meeting Thursday, Sept. 11. Reductions to several areas of the proposed 2004 budget add up to a 7 percent decrease over the 2003 budget, equaling a 14 percent decrease in the 2004 levy amount.
The city council held a budget workshop last week to review expenditures for the first half of 2003 and compare those to preliminary budget figures for 2004.
City Treasurer Sheri Sterling outlined a budget that reduced total expenditures for 2004 by $34,088 over the budget for this year. Several budget line items for 2003 are currently well under budget, Sterling said.
Expenditures for legal fees through the third quarter are less than half of the $24,000 budgeted for this year. The budget proposed for 2004 decreases legal expenditures by 25 percent to $18,000.
Treasurerís wages for 2004 were also greatly reduced, cut from $19,000 in 2003 to $7,600 in 2004. The city has spent $5,400 for Sterlingís services through the third quarter of this year.
Expenditures related to the fire department relief association were reduced from $10,000 to $3,200. City Attorney Kevin Shoeberg said the decrease comes from the stateís contribution to the relief association.
The budget contains only a few line items increased in 2004.
Costs for sheriff services will increase for 2004 from $18,000 to $23,000, due to an increased hourly rate per contract with the Chisago County Sheriffís Department.
With a number of development proposals within the city as well as planned improvement projects to the cityís lagoon and construction of a water treatment plant, the city budgeted for an increase in engineering fees for 2004.
The city has paid $12,289 in engineering fees through the third quarter of this year, over the 2003 total budget of $10,000. The proposed 2004 budget increases that line item to $14,000.
Maintenance wages, which are divided into expenditures under various city departments, show an increase from $16,000 to $18,000 under public works.
Former city maintenance employee Ken Holmstrom questioned the raise and other public works expenditures.
His salary went up 15 percent, ìwhereís the cost of living there?î he asked. Holmstrom also questioned budgeting $25,000 for gravel. ìIt was $12-$15,000 when I was there. We tried to tell you things like this last year but you wouldnít accept public comment and you probably wonít again,î he said.
Mayor Richard Hanson disagreed with Holmstromís recommendation that the city return to having a part-time maintenance employee instead of a full-time position.
ìFor the city to go without a full time maintenance person right now wouldnít be feasible,î Hanson said. ìWe had maintenance on the lagoons and pumps not being done, readings that needed to be done every day not being done,î he said. ìI donít know of a city that doesnít have a full-time maintenance person, especially when they have public utilities.î
Shoeberg added that in the past, Harris had been assessed penalties from the state for such transgressions in reporting, particularly with the cityís utilities.
Councilor Wayne Buisman agreed that the council needed to look at the increase in gravel. ìThat does seem a bit high,î he said.
Councilors Don Cardinal and Kathy Olson said the preliminary numbers looked promising.
ìItís a good start anyway,î Olson said. Shoeberg reminded the council that adopting the preliminary budget does not mean the amount cannot be decreased, but it guarantees that the 2004 budget will not be increased from the proposed total of $408,312.80.
ìIf we can do better by the end of the year, weíll certainly do that,î he said.
The council approved the preliminary budget by a 3-1 vote, with Olson abstaining. Councilor Dan Walton was absent.
The preliminary budget figures will be used for review at the cityís truth-in-taxation public hearing later in the year, before the final budget is adopted in December.

Top of Page

©ECM Post Review

6448 Main Street
North Branch, MN 55056
Telephone: 651-674-7025
Fax: 651-674-7026
E-mail: editor.postreview@ecm-inc.com