January 22, 2018
The
City still has maintained it’s AA- Standard and Poor’s (“S&P”)
rating for a fourth year in a row. During the last review a note of
“no change expected” was noted and is a strong indicator that
Mantorville is on solid fiscal grounds. The City is able to move
forward with needed infrastructure projects and the City is currently
planning for the future. The state of the City is strong, stable and
very healthy.
Tax
Levy Rate:
The
City was able to once again reduce the tax rate.
Tax
Year
|
Levy
Dollar Amount
|
Levy
Rate
|
2009
|
$406,611.00
|
56%
|
2010
|
$414,743.00
|
57%
|
2011
|
$423,037.00
|
63%
|
2012
|
$427,268.00
|
73%
|
2013
|
$427,268.00
|
72%
|
2014
|
$422,995.00
|
72%
|
2015
|
$424,525.00
|
72%
|
2016
|
$427,226.00
|
70%
|
2017
|
$440,118.00
|
68%
|
2018
|
$453,322.00
|
61%
|
Historical Tax Levy
information for Mantorville
You
may notice in the above table that the levy amount for the City
exceeded the amount from 2012 for the first time for the 2017 budget
even though our tax rate had decreased. The reason for this is that
the taxable values of properties within Mantorville increase around
9% in 2016 and 13% last year. If the council had allowed both of
these increases due to property tax values increasing the tax levy
would be over $525K for 2018. The council did not want to raise our
tax levy amount by 13% (zero rate change) while the housing market is
just starting to recover. The council did feel that the levy needed
to increase over the 2012 dollar value in order to meet some of the
construction needs during the next two years.
Waste
Water Treatment:
The
City was able to break ground on the long awaited Waste Water
Treatment Plant in 2016 and was able to complete the project in 2017.
With this project being completed and the City benefiting from some
grant money as well as low interest loans for this project, the
council is now able to start taking a more focused look at the much
needed street projects. In November we received an official letter
that notified the City of a grant for our project in the amount of
$1.8M with an additional PFA loan amount of $469K at 1% interest.
This is very good news for the citizens of Mantorville. I will post
the entire letter to my mayors blog (MayorBradford.BlogSpot.com).
Water
Over the Dam:
Maybe I should say water
under the dam. The City was able to conduct some maintenance on our
dam. Maintenance was preformed on the foot of the dam as well as the
mechanism of the gate on the dam. In 2018, there may be some
additional maintenance needed on the dam, I will keep everyone
updated on this process.
Speaking
of Water:
We conducted a visual
inspection fo the water tower to determine needed maintenance items
and to check on the operation of the overflow control mechanism. We
are still working with AT&T on a timeline for the antena upgrade
to better serve the citizens of Mantorville with cell service.
State
Capitol Re-dedication:
The State Capitol was
repaired, refurbished and re-dedicated in 2017. Many mayors from
around the state including myself, represented our cities at the re-branding ceremonies.
City
Branding Efforts
The
EDA and the City have been working on a branding project since 2015.
The final three designs for the new look and feel for the City were
on display and businesses and citizens voted on
their favorite designs. After public input the EDA choose a design
and the EDA was able to finalize this work in 2017. Logo items can be
purchased from various merchants around town. After Mantorville
rolled out our new Brand, The Secretary of State,
Steve Simon, came down to Mantorville and discuss our process as well
as to solicit some feedback on our observations of working with the
Secretary of State's office. The City will continue to move forward
with these efforts on additional assets as they are needed.
Streets
and Infrastructure:
The
City was able to complete phase one of the fifth street project and
plans are in place for the continued work on phase two of that
project. The City is also revisiting its street inventory study with
our City Engineer and City staff. The City council uses this survey
to evaluate which streets are next in line for attention and needs
funds budgeted. This spring/summer construction season looks to be a
very busy one again for Mantorville and I will keep everyone updated
via my blog and articles.
A
Bright Future
The
last year brought both challenges and opportunities. The Council was
able to move forward with some much needed constriction projects and
infrastructure needs while maintaining our S&P rating with sound
fiscal policy. The City's effort over the past several years to
secure grant and bonding funds for the WWTP project were rewarded and
the project was completed. In 2017, the City saw an increase in
constructions permits.The state of the City is sound and healthy and
every indication is that Mantorville will have another healthy year
in 2018.
Yours
in service,
Chuck
Bradford,
Mayor
- City of Mantorville
MantorvilleMayor@Gmail.Com
MayorBradford.BlogSpot.com
