Local tax levy set by council at $643,491 following budget hearing

The overall mill rate for taxpayers in Stanley is set to rise slightly this coming year, but the exact figure per $1,000 in equalized property value, could depend on just where you live in Stanley. All told the local tax levy is $643,491, while the overall revenues and expenditures is set to be $4,277,622. A large portion of that figure is related to the $1 million CDBG grant for the Community Center. Regarding taxes, meanwhile, for those who reside west of County N and so in Chippewa county, the mill rate is up by ten cents to come out at $16.18 per $1,000 (mill) in taxable property.

For those who live east of County N but west of Copenhaver Avenue in Clark County, meanwhile, the mill rate is set to rise by 12 cents to come out at $22.44 per $1,000 in taxable property. The overall mill rate includes monies raised by the City of Stanley and distributed to other governments, such as the county and school, and separating out the two city rates for Chippewa and Clark County highlights just how much of that tax money is used by the city as opposed to overlapping or other

See BUDGET, Page 3 BUDGET

more remote jurisdictions.

Calculated according to a ratio that represents taxable property value, the city rate for Stanley residents who live in Chippewa County is 0.84 while the rate per thousand is $4.54. Meanwhile, for those who live on the far southeast side of Stanley in Clark County the ratio used to calculate taxes for 2021 is 0.86, while the resulting city rate is $5.79 per $1,000 in property value.

What this means is that while the overall mill rate is the ultimate number to keep an eye on for what an individual owes, the amount of a _nal tax bill

is neither determined by the City needs alone nor does it all stay in the city treasury, other governments wanting their share for annual expenses. On that subject, however, the budget breakdown for the City of Stanley itself is included in the details, with a VERY

DETAILED spreadsheet with numbers back to 2017. As

to the present expenses, _rst

up is General Government! Regarding the General Government of the City of Stanley, a full $245,000 or 35.4 percent of the $691,355 expense total for 2021 gets paid into health and dental insurance for city employees. A full 7.74 percent (rounded up) or $53,500 of the General Government

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fund goes into the City share for employee retirement, while 6.65 percent or $46,000 gets paid toward the City share of employee Social Security. Notable other line items grouped under General Government include $25,000 for general law operations along with $10,000 budgeted for legal fees in 2021. Property and liability insrance takes away $41,000 from the General Government budget, while “tax assessment” is

budgeted to cost $11,000, up $1,000 from the three years previous. Wait, does that mean tax money is used to help pay for calculating tax assessments?!

Shifting over from General Government, another other main area of the budget relates to public safety, and to that end, the city has committed many thousands of dollars to its various departments, notably the police (406,350), _re

(132,250), and municipal ambulance ($47,400) being the top three listed, followed by _re inspection ($5,460), building inspector ($3,100), and storm and tornado warnings ($1,600). With the dam wages and salaries together with general operations expense cut to $0 after several years of _gures

between $1,000 and 2,000, the total Public Safety budget is set to be $596,390 in 2021.