City tax rate remains unchanged

And with a rollback, you’ll pay even less
    There’s good news and more good news for Clear Lake taxpayers.  For the third straight year the city’s property tax rate will be unchanged.  And as if that weren’t enough, a residential rollback will actually result in a decrease in the city government’s overall tax asking from local property owners.
    The Clear Lake City Council voted Monday night to set the city’s tax rate for the 2009 fiscal year at $10.04 per $1,000 of taxable valuation.
    For a residential property with an assessed value of $150,000, the proposed tax bill for city services would decrease by $22.31 for the 2009 fiscal year.  The tax bill for a commercial property at the same value would decrease $4.06 in fiscal year 2009.
    The proposed budget reflects total expenditures of $14,216,967, of which $5,828,925 is directed toward operations, $1,467,804 towards debt service, and $6,920,238 towards capital. 
    Major capital projects for fiscal year 2009  include:  construction of a fourth water tower in the community;  South Shore Drive street reconstruction; a signalization project at South 12th Street and 4th Avenue South;  Street Resurfacings; contribution to the lake dredging project;  14th Avenue South Street Reconstruction (South Shore to South 8th Street); expansion of Clear Lake Cemetery; and a Sanitary Sewer lining project. 
    Major capital equipment purchases include: a new “motor” grader, patrol cars, a truck for the fire department,  civil defense warning sirens; and a new public safety records management system.
    Clear Lake City Administrator Scott Flory told the City Council taxable property valuations for the 2009 fiscal year budget purposes increased by $21,503,662 (6.1 percent) to a total of $374,373,312. 
    For fiscal year 2008, Clear Lake had the seventh lowest tax rate in Iowa, among cities with a population of more than 4,000, trailing such cities as Clive, Altoona, Dyersville, Evansdale, and Urbandale. 
    The city continues to have a very low level of “bonded indebtedness,” according to Flory, with a total capacity of $34,273,168, and only $6,164,000 outstanding (18 percent).  Many Iowa cities are well in excess of 70 percent.
    Now that the City Council has approved the preliminary budget, the plan is published in the Clear Lake Mirror-Reporter.   A budget hearing will be held March 3 and the final budget should be adopted at that time.  The final budget is certified to the County Auditor by March 15.