Fox thanks City Staff

We meet all year long to make sure that we have a strong budget that deeply supports are strategic priorities that are set by the council and department heads. We, the Finance Committee, meet with department heads to hear the needs and expectations and wants for the year ahead.”

Councilmember Jen Fox

The Hastings City Council approved a budget for next year of $48.8 million and a property tax levy of $18.6 million that invests in public safety needs, street and trail improvements and personnel costs.

The City of Hastings held its Truth in Taxation public hearing at the Monday, Dec. 4 meeting of the Hastings City Council.

Finance Director Chris Eitemiller took the podium to introduce the budget. Glancing out at the audience at the meeting to thank residents for attending, he noticed there were none in attendance. He turned his attention to the council, noting that many times residents confuse increase in property value with taxation.

“The purpose is not to address market values. We have this discussion with members of the community every year. They say, ‘Taxes went up however much,’ and it turns out half or more sometimes is related to market value determination. That’s the county that handles that, and that process is concluded in the spring, so it was some time ago.”

At the close of Eitemiller’s overview of the 2024 spending plan, the Hastings City Council approved a budget for next year of $48.8 million and a property tax levy of $18.6 million that invests in public safety needs, street and trail improvements and personnel costs.

The property tax levy represents a 7.34% increase over 2023, nearly 40 percent of which will come from increased property values. A homeowner with a median value home ($312,900) will see an estimated annual property tax increase of $106, or $8.83 per month, from the city’s portion of property taxes.

The proposed levy increase is in line with other cities in Dakota County and lower than the 2024 preliminary property tax levies for all Minnesota cities, which reflects an 8.4% increase, according to the League of Minnesota Cities.

“The 2024 budget and property tax levy allows for modest growth in expenses, even as inflation continues to cut into the budget,” said City Administrator Dan Wietecha. “The city continues to invest in public safety, aging roads, necessary equipment assets and our staff. The main things driving the increase are inflation, prior funding commitments and asset preservation.”

Budgeted requests include:

•Ongoing funding for the hiring of two full-time firefighter/EMTs, approved in the prior year’s budget.

•Increased costs related to road salt, building maintenance and IT maintenance and security improvements.

•Increasing funding for skim patching and mill & overlay to maintain aging roads.

•A new $1.6 million ladder truck for the Fire/EMS Department. 

•$393,000 for Parks and Recreation trail rehabilitation.

•Ongoing funding for the Community Investment Fund for public partnership projects that support the city’s history, art, athletics and other enhancements.

•Ensuring market rate wages for staff recruitment and retention, including continued phasing-in of last year’s Compensation Study.

•Adding a part-time office support specialist to the Parks and Recreation Department and a part-time communications intern.

The council also approved a 2024 HEDRA Special Levy subject to the limit of 0.185 percent of the taxable market value. This levy is used for economic development activities that help grow key areas of the city such as the Vermillion Corridor, downtown and the Industrial Park.

The city expects to use bond funds of $4.1 million for the 2024 Neighborhood Street Project and $5.2 million for Hastings Civic Arena upgrades ($2.25 million was requested from next year’s State bonding bill).

The city projects utility rate increases as follows: water 3.5 percent, sewer 4.5 percent and stormwater 4 percent. These increases were recommended following a rate study update.

Eitemiller said the city was able to bring down what had been projected as a 35 percent increase in health insurance by offering different options to city workers that brought costs down.

Councilmember Jen Fox thanked city staff for their work putting the budget together.

“As a member of the Finance Committee, I want to deeply thank our staff for putting together a balanced budget. Thank you, Dan (Wietecha), for leading all of the workshops and all of the committee meetings. This is not an easy topic. We meet all year long to make sure that we have a strong budget that deeply supports are strategic priorities that are set by the council and department heads,” said Fox. “We, the Finance Committee, meet with department heads to hear the needs and expectations and wants for the year ahead. There are parts of that we’ve had to leave out of this budget. That’s a really challenging part.”