Wells Council postpones setting preliminary levy
The Wells City Council discussed the proposed preliminary levy for 2025 at their meeting on Monday, Sept. 9. However, they decided to table any action on setting a preliminary levy until their next meeting when mayor David Braun, who was absent from the council meeting because of illness, is able to be in attendance.
During their discussion the council was considering a proposed preliminary levy increase of 11.57 percent, knowing that after they set the preliminary levy they may still lower it but not raise it.
The preliminary levy must be set by Sept. 30. The final levy will not be set until December during the city’s Truth in Taxation meeting.
Key changes in the proposed budget were outlined by city administrator Tiffany Schrader.
“There will be a decrease in the budget due to the Community Development director position no longer being allocated to City Hall,” Schrader said. “Increases will come in continued training from Abdo while I continue to get more comfortable in my position. Increases are also expected in engineering and legal fees. An increase is also anticipated for general property insurance and worker’s compensation insurance. The Police department will also experience some higher costs in wages and benefits and in the cost of health insurance.”
In the current proposed budget for 2025, the General Fund would see an increase of 31.45 percent. However, the capital levy would decrease by 42.66 percent and the total debt levy would decrease by 19.12 percent due to bond payments and the 2015 GO Equipment certificate being paid off this year.
The council will resume discussions on the budget and plan on setting the preliminary levy at their next regular meeting on Sept. 23.
Discussion was also held on the possibility of implementing a tree replacement reimbursement program for residents of Wells impacted by street reconstruction projects.
“The proposed program is modeled after one used by the city of Blue Earth,” city engineer Ben Rosol told the council. “Under the proposal, residents may be reimbursed for 100 percent of the tree and/or installation, up to $400 per tree, with a limit of the same number of trees removed per property per street project.”
If adopted, people wishing to participate in the program would have to submit an application for the program to City Hall which would have to be approved prior to planting.
“The application would need to be made within 12 months of the final assessment hearing,” Rosol said. “The tree replacement must be from a list of approved trees.
The council decided to take the proposal under advisement and took no action on the matter at this time.
Also on the agenda was a proposal from Marketplace Media Company of Rockford, Iowa, to acquire the Flame Theatre’s advertising business.
“Currently, there is a slideshow of local business advertisements that runs for 15 minutes prior to every movie showing,” Schrader explained. “For the past six years I have been creating the slide show. The process requires us to reach out to businesses every year to determine if they would like to advertise with the Flame Theatre. Then, we would obtain payment from each business and work with the business to create their slide(s).”
The proposal from Marketplace Media Company would have them taking over the advertising.
“They would reach out to all of the current businesses advertising with us and work with them to create a new advertisement that would/could include sound, video, and animation,” Schrader added. “The businesses would pay Marketplace Media Company for their services and the Flame Theatre would receive 25 percent of the advertising sales quarterly.”
Schrader shared one of the advantages of having Marketplace Media Company take over would be their ability to create advertisements that are much higher quality than a simple slide on a PowerPoint presentation.
“My concern is for the local business owners. We currently charge $350 per year to advertise with us,” Schrader commented. “If we choose to go with an outside company, the cost would increase for our advertisers.”
Council member John Herman echoed Schrader’s concerns.
“My company advertises on the movie screen, but we almost consider it a donation,” Herman said. “I worry that you will lose advertisers if the price goes up very much.
Following some more discussion, Schrader was directed to obtain more information on what Marketplace Media company would charge for their advertising.
The City Council also considered and approved a request from the Wells Lions Club to place a flag disposal box on city property.
“They were considering placing it in City Hall but the lobby is small and often crowded due to customers waiting at the DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles),” Schrader said. “We feel a better location could be found.”
In approving the request, council members offered other suggestions for the location of the box.
Outside of the Community Center, Lions Park, near the VFW or the Veterans Memorial were some of the possibilities mentioned by council members.
In other business, the council also:
• Approved the hiring of Bailey Peterson to work at the Flame Theatre as a part-time clerk.
• Accepted the resignation of Ray Yokiel from the Airport Advisory Board.
• Approved pay estimate No. 2 to Holtmeier Construction, Inc., in the amount of $204,547.
• Discussed and adopted sanitary sewer utility rates for 2025 and 2026.