Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
WINONA LAKE - On one hand, the 2003 budget is a slashed version of this year's. Department funds have been cut by 5 percent across the board. Revenues from property taxes are reduced from $780,820 this year to $778,000.
On the other hand, to receive those revenues, the tax levy will increase from 95 cents per $100 assessed valuation to anywhere between $1.17 to $1.27.
Town clerk Retha Hicks said this year's budget preparation has been "a mess" because no clerk in the state can really nail down any firm figures.
"We just don't know," she said today during a special town council meeting to discuss the budget. "Every town is going through what we're going through."
What they're going through is a major overhaul in the tax structure, one that may continue until next summer, with adjustments made in the fall.
Legal advertising of the budgets has been done based on educated guesses - at 80 percent of last year's assessed valuation.
With the homestead credit about to be increased from $6,000 to $35,000, Hicks expects the impact on the AV to be great.
"I think our assessed valuation will go down $8 million because of the homestead credit," she said.
Councilman David Delp said he wants the public to understand the town is not collecting any more than last year.
The increased tax levy, he said, "is not because of what we've done."
The town's maximum levy increased 4.8 percent and would have allowed the town to collect up to $895,075 in tax revenues.
In other business, council members Jeff Carroll and Jerry Clevenger are meeting with representatives of Hapner Construction Wednesday at the Senior Center to discuss what can be done about the floor in the great room. The subflooring boards are swelling with the moisture again.
A couple of claims, one for $38,000 and another for $15,000, and retainage are being withheld until the great room floor has been repaired.
Town council members are Rolly Ortega, Craig Snow, David Delp, Jeff Carroll and Jerry Clevenger.
