By Logan Wells, News Director | Logan@kymnradio.net
The final approval of budgets and tax levies for local governments is scheduled for the beginning of December. Each newscast this week will have a story about the City of Northfield’s tax increase to help explain the issue. Find the full series on our website under the “Guide to the Northfield City Budget.”
Today, we are wrapping up this series by focusing on one of the largest portions of the budget: the city utility funds. Northfield operates four different utility funds: water, stormwater, wastewater (sewer), and refuse (trash). Each utility fund is paid for via the utility bill. City Finance Director Brenda Anglestad stated that city staff use rate studies to determine how they set the charges:
Listen to the News:
“The city has just recently completed a five-year rate study with Baker Tilly that reviews our current fund balances, forecasted operating costs and the forecast CIP and CEP for the next, you know, 5, 10, 20 years. And then, how do you layer in the rate increases so you don’t see sharp increases and decreases to cover the projected expenses for the next five years.” – Brenda Anglestad, City Finance Director; A Guide To The Northfield City Budget
Unlike taxes or the general fund, the utility funds are based on customer usage. The average customer currently spends $92 a month on their utility bill. The approved rate increases for next year would raise the bill to $97 a month. Based on the current list of projects, the utility bill would rise to $120 by 2031. Here’s City Administrator Ben Martig:
“So for $5 per month increase, I would say we’ve got very professionally run utilities and costs that I think are competitive when you look at our peer communities.” – Ben Martig, Northfield City Administrator; A Guide to the Northfield City Budget
Among the new projects are updating water meters, a new water tower in the Northwest Area, and updates to biocakes for wastewater storage.
The utility rates were previously approved in October and are not part of the City Council’s upcoming votes and discussions in December.
Comparison of Northfield to Other Cities:
Will continue to keep you updated ahead of Truth in Taxation on December 2nd. Go to our website to learn more about the budget, and in the coming days will talk more about the other government’s truth in taxation.
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