NW Iowa News

The Sheldon City Council recently held one of their first in-depth discussions regarding various budgeting items for the coming fiscal year.

During the Jan. 4 meeting, the City Council had one of the first parts of their budget workshops for the 2023-24 fiscal year which will begin on July 1. The council typically plans and workshops their fiscal year budget every January, but this year started early when City manager Sam Kooiker warned that the state had advised anticipating a 3.5% decrease in LOST (local option sales tax) revenue. This fund brings in almost $1 million for the City each year. The City is already experiencing some tension in this area with a very small carryover from the previous year, and cash at hand in this fund is expected to drop under $31,000 by the end of June 2023.

During the discussion on LOST and TIF (tax increment financing), the council said they were figuring out ways to divert payments that were to be made out of the LOST funds. They figured some of the payments could come out of TIF as there were direct links to economic development, making it eligible for TIF funds. Kooiker also discussed expanding the TIF district in the future, but he felt that doing so right now would overwhelm the City with projects and responsibilities. The council discussed their various projects and responsibilities coming up for TIF and how they should budget them all while fulfilling their obligations.

"Two [reasons behind TIF districts] mainly: incentivize growth and remediate blight," Kooiker said in the meeting. "You added the Bethel Church site, for example, and City Park. So that was to facilitate both. Todd and I have talked about eventually coming to you and asking to expand the urban renewal area to include 11th Street and maybe 10th Street, so that you could do more sewer remediation and sewer lines and that's a big ask right now. We believe that we need to allow time to catch up with some of the projects that we've already done before we take on new projects."

The council also discussed their current Hotel/Motel tax, which has rebounded since the pandemic and even showed a record-breaking $166,000 this year in revenue for the City. The council is happy with their Hotel/Motel revenue and the tourism efforts in the community as they continue into 2023. 

The council will have another budget workshop session in January before finalizing the next fiscal year’s budget.