NEWTON, Kan. — The Newton City Commission continues to put the 2023 budget together.
At Tuesday night’s meeting, the commission moved forward with putting the final numbers together and directed city staff to notify the county clerk of its intent to exceed the “revenue neutral rate,” meaning that it expects to bring in more revenue than the previous year.
The proposed 2023 budget includes a mill levy increase of up to 8 mills, which would equate to $92 per year on a $100,000 home.
While keeping the tax rate flat for four consecutive years, the city has drawn down its reserve funds, refinanced old debt, cut costs and relied on federal funding from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) to balance the budget. Now, ARPA funding is no longer available, record inflation has caused the city’s commodity and energy costs to soar, and a rapid uptick in development projects and needed services has required increased staffing in many departments, according to a release from the city.
City staff had originally brought forth a budget that required an increase of 12 mills and left an ending balance of 5%. City policy calls for a 15% reserve balance. Commissioners directed staff to bring back proposed cuts that could reduce the increase to 8 mills.
The city will notify the county clerk it intends to increase its mill levy to as much as 70.506 and will hold official public hearings on the budget and the revenue neutral rate at 7 p.m. Aug. 23.
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