Waverly council closes budget hearing with no public comments; members dispute published tax comparison

The City of Waverly City Council met in special session March 24 and closed a public hearing on the proposed budget after no members of the public rose to speak.

City officials also spent part of the meeting disputing a newspaper's presentation of tax comparisons and outlining how the proposed budget would affect the city's levy and expenditures.

The council approved the meeting agenda by voice vote at the start of the session. The mayor then opened the public hearing on the proposed budget statement and said it would remain open until 7 p.m. to allow anyone with an urgent need to speak. “This public hearing will hearing will remain open until 07:00 should anyone have an urgent need to come and talk to us,” the mayor said during the meeting.

During discussion, council members criticized a published tax comparison they said misrepresented the city's numbers. A council member described the middle comparison column in the newspaper's mailed budget statement as “absolute fabrication,” saying it combined property assessment growth with spending in a way the council disagreed with.

Council members provided specific figures for the proposed budget: they said the levy increase in the proposed budget is 1.2% and overall expenditures are up 3.69%. They said the typical homeowner’s city portion of the tax bill would increase by about $28 per $100,000 of assessed value and that the city pool payment accounted for roughly $36 of that change in the first year. Council members also cited the property tax “rollback” mechanism as affecting year-over-year comparisons.

Officials criticized the cost and clarity of the mailed comparison published by Polk County, saying it cost “almost $41,000” to mail and that the presentation confused readers. Council members emphasized that the official figures are on the council agenda and the city’s published materials and urged residents to consult those sources rather than relying solely on the newspaper comparison.

There were no public comments during the hearing; the mayor declared the hearing closed after the council waited the allotted time with no one approaching the microphone. The council noted a second, final public hearing on the budget is scheduled for April 7.

Procedural actions recorded in the meeting included approval of the agenda by voice vote, the opening of the public hearing on the proposed budget statement, and the formal closing of that hearing when no public comment was offered.

The council did not take a final vote on the budget at this meeting; the April 7 session is the scheduled date for the final hearing and action.