NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The Hutchinson City Council held a budget work session on Tuesday, and after being shown a spreadsheet of what impact attempting to remain revenue neutral would have on the budget, especially in the future, it appears that there is an appetite to keep the mill levy neutral, but allow the increases in valuation to increase revenues to help meet increasing expenses.
"I think that makes sense," Vice-Mayor Stacy Goss said. "I don't want to sacrifice the near future projects and maintenance and things that we have to do by slashing things too hard right now."
Council member Jon Richardson agreed.
"That's where I kind of say we just keep the mill levy where it's at," Richardson said. "Don't decrease it at this point. The story is, look what's happened over the last five years with costs and budget and compare the two. Consumer price index or whatever index you want to use. I would be very transparent in regards to, I know we can find data that supports our story, but we need to show data that is accurate, not cherry pick. People see it on the news. People see it everywhere. It costs more to operate, whether it's a business or your home, and we're not sheltered from that, too much."
New City Manager Enrico Villegas agreed with the general direction, as well.
"One of the things that excites me about the direction the city wants to go, is the appetite to reinvest in itself," Villegas said. "Think of the downtown master plan and the zoo strategic plan that we just learned about today. It takes money to do that. As we want to invest in these other things for the betterment of the community, we need additional funding to do that. This is a way to help us get there. I just wanted to offer that opinion, as well, that I am definitely looking forward to the future of what we can do, we just need help to get there and that help is financial."
The city must finalize the 2025 budget in the coming months.
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