City adopts preliminary budget, sets hearing for Sept. 7

As well as passing a number of yearly levies, Havre City Council voted to adopt this coming year's preliminary budget and set a public hearing for the budget for Wednesday, Sept. 7, at 7 p.m.

Havre Mayor Doug Kaercher said physical copies of the preliminary budget will be available at his office until the hearing, and an online copy can be found attached to this week's council meeting agenda at the city's website.

In addition to adopting this budget the city also passed a number of resolutions on first reading, including renewing a number of levies.

The cost of some went up but overall the collective cost to Havre property owners from these levies went down by just more than $28 per year on a 50 foot by 140 foot lot.

The first of the levies was to defray the cost of maintaining streetlights, which went up by about $1.15 per year for a 50 foot by 140 foot lot, due to increasing electricity costs.

Kaercher said they use this 50 by 140 metric because that is generally the largest lot people are going to own in the city, so, in the case of this levy increase, $1.15 is the most anyone is going to see as an increase.

The second levy was to defray the costs of maintaining city streets, which would see a decrease of $37.12 on a 50 by 140 lot.

Kaercher said this levy is not for building streets, just maintenance.

Another levy defraying the cost of maintenance on the Bullhook Dam, saw a reduction of $11.80 per year on a 50 by 140 lot, which Kaecher said is due to a recent project on the dam reaching near-completion this year.

However, the levy defraying the cost of solid waste removal services increased by $19.55 per year on a 50 by 140 lot.

All told these levy reductions and increases result in a net decrease of $28.22 per year on a 50 by 140 lot, and all passed unanimously on the first reading.

During the meeting the council also unanimously passed a resolution allowing for the creation of a van-accessible handicap parking spot on the corner of Third Street and Fourth Avenue.

Havre Public Works Director Dave Peterson said the original request was in a slightly different location, but he recommended moving it to the corner of Third Street and Fourth Avenue where the new space wouldn't eliminate two regular parking spaces.