Full House At Public Meeting About Dryden Budget

Lots of numbers were thrown around at last night’s public meeting in Dryden regarding the 2013 budget process.
The projected revenue for 2013 is $24.4 million, with 47% of that being taxation.
However, the projected expenditure is $29.4 million, with 39% coming from salaries, wages and benefits.
That leaves the city with a 5 million dollar problem.
City manager Joe van Koeverden says a big part of the 5 million is capital requirement, and council has cut it from 3.8 million to 1.5 million, which means that’s 2.3 million that has already been cut out of the budget.
Stressing that this is only the first draft of the budget, van Koeverden says that a 5 percent increase in taxes would give them about 500 thousand dollars, and a 10 percent increase in user fees would give them about another 500 thousand, since user fees are about 5 million.
He adds that if there were no increases and no cutbacks, taxes would rise almost 50 percent, so something has to be done.
In regards to the proceeds from the sale of Dryden Mobility, van Koeverden says that the outstanding debt from that is 10 million dollars and that they will have to pay $1,436,785, which includes interest, each year until 2020.
Despite the high numbers, Mayor Craig Nuttall says that they are looking to attract future growth to the community in a way to fight the growing financial problem
There are 30 residential lots for sale in Dryden, which are being offered at 20% less then the listing price.
There is also 3 million dollars in industrialized land, and Nuttall says they are working to attract new businesses into claiming that vacant space.
The next move for council is a meeting on November 19, 2012 to discuss the first draft of the capital and operating budget.
Council will adopt the final draft of the budget by February 18, 2013.