Taxes Flat in 2013 Englewood Municipal Budget

The Englewood City Council unanimously approved a $59.33 million 2013 municipal budget Tuesday night that for the third straight year will keep the tax levy flat. Although the budget's passage was largely celebrated, concerns still weighed heavy on the minds of elected officials.

Passed 5-0, the $59,336,515 municipal budget comes in nearly $500,000 below that of the 2012 budget. To boot, residential home values are up $1,100 on average in the city.

Administrators attributed the slimmed-down budget to a few layoffs, reduced costs in replacing departing workers, and an accelerated tax sale scheduled for the upcoming year.

"While this process is often met with groans and cynicism, there are several reasons to be optimistic," Ward 1 Councilman Marc Forman said. "First, our city has not raised the municipal real estate levy in three years. Second, the quality of city services have improved."

Among the appropriations in the 2013 budget are a $100,000 increase to library programs, the maintenance of twice-a-week refuse pickup, the hire of a marketing coordinator to promote recreation programs, extended hours for the Tryon Avenue municipal pool and a move to entirely digitize the code inspection department.

For some, what wasn't included in the 2013 budget was the real headline.

Despite $3 million in surplus on hand, the city council . If funding isn't found – the school board is taking up the question on Thursday – the service will be discontinued at the end of June.

Despite talk of significant progress in finding efficiencies and implementing more effective management strategies in recent years, council members acknowledged the thorny challenges that remain.

Overtime costs incurred by police and fire are rising and several noted the poor condition of city parks and fields. The accelerated tax sale, which in effect means the city holds two auctions to recoup losses of uncollected property taxes, will add an expected $2.2 million to the budget coffers in 2013.

"Do I have concerns? Yes I do," Forman said. "We still do a poor job of maintaining our parks and fields. We need to implement tighter controls on police overtime. And to balance the 2013 municipal budget, we will have two delinquent tax sales in one year. I see this as a timing difference that may lead to a shortfall in 2014."

The city will pay $200,000 towards sick time in 2013, though state reforms in pension and health care are slowly stabilizing those costs, officials said. City Manager Timothy Dacey said between five and six firefighters are also expected to be hired in 2013. Due to training time, overtime savings won't be realized until they start in 2014.

Skurnick, meanwhile, was optimistic redevelopment proposals could yield better uses for Lincoln and Liberty schools. It would boost the city's tax base.

"Going forward, there's an opportunity for the city to gather a lot of money," Skurnick told the audience.

Ward 3 Councilman Michael Cohen said the strides the city has made in recent years are commendable. Past tax increases routinely touched double digits, and in the era of the 2 percent property tax cap, Englewood officials have held the line at zero.

"We can always do better," he said. "But this year we've done a pretty damn good job."