Burlington Spotlight
August 2004

Each year the Mayor and City Council meet with the City Administrator and each of the operating department managers to determine the level of services to be provided in the upcoming year, set priorities for services, and examine funding alternatives and strategies. The review, debate and service prioritization, i.e. the budget process, usually begins the first week of September and concludes in late November. One outcome of this lengthy process is the establishment of a property tax levy for city services. Unfortunately, many residents and property tax payers do not know what their property taxes support. This article has been written to help address this information shortfall and further push open the lines of communication with your local government.

First, below is a chart illustrating where a typical city property owner's tax dollar goes. As you can see 46% of the tax bill is paid for City services. The local school district, which receives much of it's funding from the State, is the second largest recipient of your tax dollars.

Other taxes that you pay regularly, such as sales, gasoline and income taxes are levied and paid to the State for their purposes. Some of these dollars are sent back to the City in the form of State Shared Revenues and street maintenance funds.

What are City services? The services provided include police, fire, stormwater system maintenance, street and sidewalk repair and maintenance, street lighting, debt service, building inspection and property maintenance, park maintenance, health department services, residential garbage and recycling services, leaf and brush pick-up, municipal airport, economic development activities, elections, municipal parking lot maintenance, water service, sanitary sewer service, emergency government and other lesser activities. Along with these services come the costs for liability and vehicle insurances, administrative costs, engineering, land use planning and debt service. Water and sanitary sewer services (utilities) are paid for directly by the users. All other services are paid for through the property taxes, state shared revenues, permit fees, transportation aids and other revenue sources. Below is a chart illustrating where the City's non-utility revenues come from:

So, how much do City services cost?

Most of us pay our bills monthly, so to provide you with a good comparison, we have broken down most of our services on a per person basis per month to give you an idea of what your local services do cost. Since the City has been growing the population used of 10,102 is the one provided by the State of Wisconsin as an update to the U.S. Census Bureau's 2000 Census.

Just a reminder that the Sewer Irrigation Allowance for water usage is currently in effect. During this period, there is more outdoor water usage (watering lawns/landscape, washing vehicles, and filling pools), which does not flow through the sewer. Therefore, during this quarter only, the sewer charge is NOT calculated based on the amount of water volume metered. Instead, the sewer rate for the summer quarter is calculated based on the customer's First Quarter (December - March) usage or the Second Quarter (March - June) usage, whichever amount is lower.

The Sewer Irrigation Allowance is for single-family residential customers only and is for water usage during late June through late September. The customer will receive this water/sewer bill on approximately October 4, 2004. Any questions relating to the Sewer Irrigation Allowance may be directed to the Burlington Water Utility at 342-1173.

Join the Burlington Public Library's book discussion group August 23rd at 7:00pm for the book CARAMELO by Sandra Cisneros. Every year, Celaya "Lala" Reyes's family-aunts, uncles, mothers, fathers, and Lala's six older brothers-packs up three cars and, in a wild ride, drives from Chicago to the Little Grandfather and Awful Grandmother's house in Mexico City for the summer. Struggling to find a voice above the boom of her brothers and to understand her place on this side of the border and that, Lala is a shrewd observer of family life. But when she starts telling the Awful Grandmother's life story, seeking clues to how she got to be so awful, Grandmother accuses Lela of exaggerating. Soon, a multigenerational family narrative turns into a whirlwind exploration of storytelling, lies, and life. Like the cherished rebozo, or shawl, that has been passed down through generations of Reyes women, CARAMELO is alive with the vibrations of history, family, and love.

As most of you may be aware, the City has recently acquired the Clark Oil Station property located at 590 Milwaukee Avenue. The City closed on this property on July 23, 2004, with the overall intent of the purchase being to utilize it to improve the City's downtown transportation. The City Engineer is designing these improvements along with changes to Commerce Street and Chestnut Street. This traffic option along with many other aspects of the 2005 Street Improvement Program, and the future of the former Mills site were discussed during the five focus group meetings that were conducted earlier this year. The City hopes to collaborate these ideas and create a more effective means of transportation in our downtown area.