There were about 35 Wallsburg residents on hand August 23rd when the town council considered the proposed increase for the final time. That’s about half the number that came to a hearing the week before, but still about 10% of the entire town’s population.
Mayor Celeni Richins told KPCW she appreciated the turnout.
"I'm thrilled the community was here. I really am," she said. "It's more fun to have a meeting when there's more people there. Even if things do get heated, which tonight it didn't. That was really nice."
There was no opportunity for public comment Thursday, though the town council did address a few concerns raised earlier, like other possible means to pay for maintenance of the town hall. Richins said a private school had recently offered $25,000 to use much of the building for its needs, but the proposal ultimately wasn’t viable.
"The vast majority of the building would have been used for private use instead of municipal use," Richins said.
That didn’t seem to satisfy Wallsburg resident Sam Hicken.
"They basically stonewalled that opportunity," he told KPCW.
Hicken was more supportive of the proposed wage increases for the mayor and town council members. Mayor Richins, for instance, would receive $500 a month instead of $250.
"The council gets paid pennies," he said. "That's not a huge thing. They do need to be compensated for their time and efforts. I know that they use a lot of their own resources."
But during the meeting's discussion, the majority of the council expressed a willingness to do without their pay increases. But council member Clint Allen reminded meeting attendees of the intent behind the increase.
"It's not so that we can make more money," he said. "It was to incentivize someone else to run for a position."
Allen added the portion of the increase going to road maintenance was still insufficient. He said it would take several decades to do all of the town’s needed road improvements even with the higher taxes.
"So it's not like we're trying to raise your taxes and pave the whole town tomorrow, we got a big problem here," he said.
So the primary consideration for the town council was whether to do the entire proposed tax increase this year, or spread it out over a couple of years. The town voted 3 - 2 to implement the entire increase this year. Richins voted in favor of doing it all now.
Wallsburg resident Peter Nielsen said it was the right move.
"To me, it's you take pain right now and then don't worry about it next year," he told KPCW. "I think you just get done with it. And we can all adjust."
Richins said she decided it was better to draw the ire of residents for awhile now than "kick the can down the road" on improvements the community needs. And as for the wage increases, she said they could be reduced in the future.
"We decided to vote it through as it is," she told KPCW. "Then I figure if we need to move those funds from wages, that can easily be done."
She added that those wage increases had been approved months ago, though they went largely unnoticed by residents who don’t normally attend council meetings.
"Truth in Taxation tends to bring a lot of things to people's attention, which is great," she said. "Better to get educated late than never."
Wallsburg’s total property tax revenue will increase from $27,304 to $60,237. For a home valued at just under $579,000, the homeowner’s property tax bill for the town would go up from $238 to about $678.
