Beatrice City Council approved FY 23 budget, sanitation hike

BEATRICE – A city budget of just over $54.3 million dollars has been approved by the Beatrice City Council for the fiscal year starting October 1st.
It carries a property tax request of $2.85 million….up about a half-percent from the year before. The city saw overall property valuation jump 6.5% for the year.
No water or electric rate increases were enacted, and there will be a slight increase in the sewer service charge, of 25-cents per thousand gallons.

Beatrice residents will also pay two-dollars more per month for garbage pick-up through Midwest Area Refuse Solutions….setting that at $20 per month.
"If you don't raise the rates by two bucks, then we're not going to be able to afford the buy the trucks this next year that we need to purchase....and we'll continue to have high maintenance repairs. (Wirth)..and it's just like a quart of milk, it's gone up substantially....gas, oil, tires, repairs....gone up substantially."

City Administrator Tobias Tempelmeyer and Mayor Stan Wirth, spoke about the need for the adjustment. Councilman Gary Barnard wonders if the city should have raised the rate for rural customers, which is $23 per month.

"I would just as soon wait on at least the residential part of it, until we get those other contracts in line with what our own citizens are paying here."

City officials point out contract rates with outside communities were adjusted last April 1st. Director of MARS, Jason Moore says the garbage service has high demand from rural residents for the garbage hauling service….for example in areas traveled by trucks between Beatrice, Daykin and Western.
"With us losing Cortland, we still had a substantial increase for MARS in the first year. And, those numbers are just off of rural customers we picked up, at $23. Because we haven't picked up any other villages....it's just off the sheer number of rural customers."

A fee resolution which includes the Beatrice residential garbage customer rate increase passed the council, on a 6-1 vote.