Friday, September 4, 2009

2010 City Budget
The City Council met on August 25th to review the preliminary budget information with the City Departments that recieve tax levy monies. These Departments include Police, Fire, Streets, Parks, Recreation, Library, Planning & Zoning, Pool, Arena, Community Center, the Economic Development Authority and City Hall. Due to the $218,000 cut in State aid for 2010 and the levy limits imposed by the State these budgets focused on the continuation of current services and included very few capital requests. Following the budget presentations the City Council looked at the debt service (bond repayments) that are due for 2010 from the General Fund. Last, the State of Minnesota is allowing a one-time opportunity for cities to recapture all or part of the 2008 and 2009 Local Government Aid cuts. These cuts amounted to about $204,000 for the City of Windom. At the September 1 City Council meeting the City Council adopted a preliminary levy of about $1.75 million, which included recapturing all of the 2008 and 2009 State aid cuts. This Preliminary Levy represents a 13.5% increase because of the State aid cuts. The City Council will be continuing the budget discussions in the next two months with the goal of reducing the $1.75 million levy amount. Public input is always welcome. Budget meetings related to the adoption of a final budget and levy will be held on December 1 and December 15. Please contact City Hall or the City's web site for additonal information.

Airport Update
The concrete has all be poured and substantial completion on the runway project has been reached by Wicks Construction. The crack-filling and seal-coating project for the areas around the hangars and airport building will be started after the Labor Day holiday. At this time the schedule for re-opening the airport is October 1.

2009 Street Project - Final Stage
The sub-contractors that are working on the restoration of the boulevards and seeding will be starting their work shortly. The City's engineer's will be working closely with City staff and the sub-contractors to insure that the restoration work meets the quality and specifications within the contract.

Have a Safe and Enjoyable Labor Day Weekend