By now, all of our local municipalities have passed budgets for the upcoming year. And the way sales taxes have gone for most areas, cities may have to look for other sources of funding.
During the budget talks that I heard with the City of Newton, the sales tax collections for the early months of this year have fallen behind those of the previous years. However, the cost of everything continues to rise. So even when you take in the same amount of money, it’s still like taking a pay cut.
We all see that in our own lives. Our paychecks might stay the same, but your grocery bill or cost at the pump continues to rise.
So, to offset that change, you either have to take on some other form of revenue or you have to make cuts in your lifestyle.
The same is true in cities. You have to grow just to be able to maintain the same level of service. And to keep up with inflation, most cities recommend trying to increase revenue by about 8 percent per year.
Newton is looking at anything from increasing fees on city utility bills to trying to exercise the resort option to legalize liquor sales in certain areas of town.
They have even considered annexation.
The thing is that there are no silver bullets to growth. It’s going to take a combination of raising revenues and really looking hard at what city services are most needed in our community.
And you also need to have economic growth in the area. We’ve seen some of that with the Biewer Lumber Mill opening in recent years, but we won’t see the full benefit of it until after about 10 years when the company has recouped all of its rebates and incentives. Same is true of ESCO and its new expansion project.
Until then, we may have to dig a little deeper in our pockets to help keep things going. And maybe the state legislature might also realize that cutting taxes at a state level is actually putting more burden on all other levels of government.
Contact Brent at bmaze@-newtoncountyappeal.com.
