City of Boscobel residents will see a 10-cent jump in their mill rate when they receive their property tax bills next week, from $24.06 per $1,000 to $24.16. Those numbers were revealed Monday when the Common Council approved the city's 2012 budget.
"It actually came out pretty good," said City Administrator Arlie Harris. "You can see that the gross city tax actually went down 2.3 percent, but so did our revenues. We beat this thing pretty much to death at the committee meeting. It's a nice process to have out of the way."
Overall, the city budget is down 2.3 percent to $2,535,488. However, state and federal revenues were down 3.1 percent, leaving a net city tax of $990,871.
Homeowners with property valued at $100,000 will be looking at a tax bill of $2,277-up about $10 from last year.
The city purpose mill rate is actually down 1.2 percent compared to last year-from $9.04 to $8.93. However, other taxing entities are up, including the state (3.4%), county (2.6%), technical college (2.0%) and school district (0.8%).
While most city departments were able to maintain their 2011 spending levels, some were cut slightly, most notable Public Works at 7.2 percent-from $637,140 to $591,206. The Parks budget was also cut, 7.4 percent, from $67,600 to $62,600.
Public Works is the city's biggest annual expenditure, followed by the Police Department with an annual budget of $517,297.
"You know, when it comes to streets and stuff, I'd put our town up against anybody," said Mayor Steve Wetter.
In other business, the Council:
•Learned that the city had its first water main break of the winter season last week on Dwight Street;
•Heard that Dennis Reiger of the Street Department is retiring effective Jan. 3, 2012;
•Approved Greg Plotz to the Library Board;
•Approved Vig & Associates as City/Utility auditors for 2012;
•Approved the auditor's list of personal property write-offs.