JANESVILLE—Barring last-minute changes, Janesville’s 2023 city budget will roll out as proposed a month ago, as a spending plan balanced largely via a $1-million dip into rainy-day funds.
The Janesville City Council didn’t discuss the proposal in any detail and nobody spoke at a public hearing Monday night on the proposed budget.
The only notable change was a shift of $11,100, pulled from the proposed tax levy and tacked instead to the total amount the city plans to draw off its rainy-day fund to fully balance the budget.
That change came, Finance Director David Godek said, after the city received notice of property tax refunds it will receive from the state.
$1 million from fund balance
Under an amended proposed budget forwarded to the council Monday, the city plans to draw $1,000,988 from its fund balance, or rainy-day fund to float a city budget that officials said was constrained by a more than $500,000 decrease in state aid. It was also further hampered by inflation that over the last months has been pegged between 7% and 10%.
If approved later this month, the city would adopt a tax levy of $41,166,591. That’s a $2.25 million bump, or a 5.79% increase overall compared to the 2022 tax levy. In all, the city’s $61 million spending plan will spell about a $64 increase on the city tax bill for a resident living in a $150,000 home, which is considered the median assessed value for households in Janesville.
Fee hikes
That would be in addition to what city estimates earlier showed would be $30 in fee increases for the average household, in part to pay for cost inflation tied to curb-and-gutter replacements citywide.
The budget is slated for adoption by the city council on Nov. 28.
The council read in but did not discuss Monday a set of other fee changes tied to the budget. Most notably, anyone building out a housing start or commercial property will face a set of fee hikes on permits to break ground.
Under a proposed slate of fee increases, the city would jump from $138 to $200 for a permit to lay in a foundation for a housing start. The same fee for a commercial foundation permit would jump from $138 to $250 per project.
Under the same set of changes, the cost of city review of building plans would shift from a per-square-foot charge to a $250 flat fee.
Under the same proposal, the fee to cut a curb for a driveway opening would jump from $50 to $100. Those fee increases would take effect Jan. 1.
Pet fees
Residents do get a small break in fees if the council approves another fee change. Along with the construction permit fee changes, the city is proposing to whittle down a late fee the city charges for people who don’t register a pet by March 31.
The late fee would drop from $30 per pet to $10 per pet, according to a proposal set for a public hearing Nov. 28.
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