Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Budget topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Council reviews 2027 budget, mill-levy options and tradeoffs for $16M road project
Summary
Finance staff presented 2027 budget drivers and several mill-levy scenarios. With county valuations up about 5.2%, council debated preserving bond capacity for major projects (175th Street/Clear Road ~ $16M) versus lowering the mill; staff will return July 6 with a resolution if council directs it to exceed the revenue-neutral rate.
Gardner City finance staff presented the proposed trajectory for the 2027 budget and several scenarios for the city's mill levy, emphasizing how choices now affect the city's capacity to issue debt for planned road and interchange projects.
"We're anticipating a 5.2% increase in the total valuation of the city," said Matt, the city's finance director, and explained that under a flat-mill scenario the average single-family homeowner would pay roughly $3.67 more per month while the city's projected fund balance would fall from 43% at the end of 2025 to about 18% by 2031. Under a revenue-neutral-rate scenario the fund balance would decline faster, to roughly 10% by 2031, he said.
Matt showed the capital plan that includes a proposed 175th Street/Clear Road improvement that staff estimates will cost about $16 million, roughly $9.4 million of which the city would plan to finance with a 15-year general-obligation bond. He also flagged the I‑35/US‑56 interchange reconfiguration (local match roughly $5.2 million) and reconstruction of 167th Street as other projects that consume bonding capacity.
Council members debated whether to protect bonding capacity. "If we were voting tonight, I would say you go flat in the general and in the ... bonding capacity as well," Council member Mark Ween said, urging caution about "maxing out" the city's credit capacity and stressing the need to attract more commercial and industrial assessed value rather than rely solely on residential growth.
Other council members voiced similar concern about using up bond capacity and recommended focusing discussion at an upcoming council retreat and on July 6 when staff will return with a resolution (if directed) to set a hearing for exceeding the revenue-neutral rate.
Staff asked for direction on whether to include a preferred mill-levy figure in the July 6 resolution; council did not adopt a mill tonight and pushed the discussion to the next meeting.
