Town council is asking for about $126,000 more from Kamsack property owners this year than was received in 2016, but because of the recent reassessment, the tax rate has been reduced from 30 mills to eight mills for residential, agricultural and commercial properties.
Council approved its 2017 budget during its regular meeting on April 10.
The community’s total assessed value increased from $97,493,900 in 2016 to $133,715,200. This includes a commercial and industrial assessed value increase of $32,497,400 in 2016 to $55,060,200 this year, and residential assessed value increasing from $56,071,100 in 2016 to $64,559,200.
In order to balance the tax load between commercial and residential properties, a mill rate factor of .80 is applied to the 2017 residential assessment, which is an increase from .275 in 2016, while the commercial mill rate factor is at 1.25 this year, an increase from 1.l1 in 2016.
Added to the mill rate is a local improvement levy of $310, which has been added to all agricultural, residential and commercial properties. That is the same amount as had been levied last year.
The base tax has risen from $550 last year to $625 for agricultural properties, $825 for residential properties, and $625 for commercial properties.
Council expects to raise $3,920,829 in 2017, up from $3,783,884 last year. Of that amount, about $1.7 million is from taxation, while unconditional grants will add about $421,000, and conditional grants, $143,000. Other sources of revenue include fees and charges, utilities, land sales and investment income.
During the year, council plans to spend $3,487,233, which is about $74,000 more than the $3,423,207 that was spent last year.
Expenditures include general government, $692,000; policing, $133,000; fire $82,000; transportation services, $1 million; environmental health, $284,000; health and welfare, $69,000; planning and development, $4,500; recreation and culture, $472,000, and utilities, $629,000.
Included in the list of expenditures totalling about $110,000 are: a “Jetter truck,” which is capable of dispensing water under high pressure that is to be used for such jobs as sewer clogs, particularly on weekends when such commercial services are not as readily available; a portable LED speed sign that will be positioned at several locations within the community, and upgrades to the town office computers.
The budget calls for a surplus of $809.
