City of Beatrice preliminary budget discussions being held

BEATRICE – Beatrice city officials are piecing together a new biennial budget for the city. The Beatrice Board of Public Works also uses two-year budgeting.
City Administrator Tobias Tempelmeyer says in recent weeks, administration and finance have met with department heads, going over planned expenses and income.

"Sales tax is always kind of a guessing game. We have some history that shows us what we've done in the past years. Next year, is the recession really going to hit...or if the stock market up twenty percent, what does that mean for sales tax? We try to have a conservative approach. Valuations, something people are getting in the mail right now from the county...what impact will that have on property taxes next year. We don't get a county assessed property valuation until mid-August and by the end of September, we have to have a budget turned in."

One change as the city works toward setting its tax rate involves a alteration in government structure. "We are absorbing the airport...so you may see the airport levy come off your bill completely, but you may see the city levy go up.  It's going up because we absorbed the airport. We need to issue some public safety debt, something we used to issue about every three years. We didn't do it when we had Covid money coming in. But, we're getting back into that cycle again where it's time to issue some. Those are things we just have to weigh out here, and talk to the mayor and council about."

Public Safety debt helps finance things like police vehicles, fire trucks and ambulances and other equipment. Tempelmeyer says the city continues to pay off bonds backed by a voter-approved local sales tax that are paying for a new fire and rescue headquarters.

"Those bonds run through 2030. We think we're about a year ahead of schedule, right now."

Tempelmeyer says the capital improvements budget will likely include some routine building repairs or upgrades….a new playground at Astro Park along with other playground and ballfield improvements.  A major street project next year will be reconstructing South 13th Street, between Beaver and Oak.

Tempelmeyer commented on Thursday's "Ask the Mayor" program, on KWBE.