On Monday night, the Kalona City Council passed a nearly $3.7 million budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1.

As part of that budget, the overall property tax levy will go down.

The current levy is at $10.73 per $1,000 of valuation. The new levy will be $10.59 per $1,000 of valuation, a reduction of about 1.35%.

City Administrator Ryan Schlabaugh said that the levy reduction was possible because overall valuation went up about $4.3 million.

The city will see an additional $28,000 in property tax revenue from the new levy and increased valuation.

Schlabaugh told the council that the levy is comparatively low compared to other similarly sized cities in the state.

“We did go back through and look at communities with a population between 2,000 and 3,000 just to see where we ranked,” he said. “It went anywhere from $8.10 all the way to $22.71 per $1,000 of valuation.”

The city also expects to see an additional $35,000 in local option sales tax revenue.

“It’s a pretty good barometer for us that we’re seeing continued growth in the business community with respect to sales tax,” Schlabaugh said.

The city will also receive a nearly $12,000 increase in road use funds from the state.

“We saw the state allocate more funds per resident,” Schlabaugh said. “We’ll be just shy of $12,000 in additional road use funds that can go toward improving our roads.”

On the expense side, debt service dropped by nearly $52,000.

Schlabaugh explained that the reduction is due to the recent refinancing of the community center bonds and the timing of that refinancing.

Both PAWS & More animal shelter and Wellman Senior Dining got allocations of $4,500 in the new budget.

There is also a reallocation of $4,500 from Kalona Celebration funds to Kalona Events.

“The finance committee made the suggestion that we look to do some more evening events and one-off events, maybe movies in the park on a Friday or Saturday night,” Schlabaugh said.

The budget also allows for the hiring of an additional general laborer for the city.

“We’re proposing adding a year 1 general laborer in the $16.50 per hour range,” Schlabaugh said.

The city would advertise the position in May, make the hire in June, and the new worker would start in July with the new fiscal year.