Abby takes first look at 2025 budget
By Kevin O’Brien
A proposed 2025 budget presented at Monday’s Abbotsford City Council includes a slight dip in the property tax levy, substantial increases in state and, at this point, no money allocated for a possible dog park that has been talked about for the past few years.
City administrator Josh Soyk went through a rough draft of the city’s general budget on Monday, with the understanding that the document will be changed before it is officially adopted next month. Overall, the city’s general fund revenues are projected to go up by nearly $108,000, or 4.5 percent over this year, according to the draft budget.
The budget’s bottom line showed just over $53,000 that has not been allocated yet, but that was before the city council voted to increase wages after meeting in closed session. The cumulative impact of those raises is likely to eat up about $25,000 of the $53,000, Soyk said after Monday’s meeting.
On the revenue side, the total amount of property taxes to be collected by the city will drop by $807, to $936,071. Soyk said this decrease is due to Wisconsin Act 12, which exempted all personal property from taxes and provided an increase in state aid to compensate for the loss of revenue. For Abbotsford, this means about $33,400 more in personal property aid.
Abbotsford will also see its transportation aid increase by 15 percent, up to $335,634, and its shared revenue is estimated to jump by $13,500, up to $602,734. When com-
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bined, the hikes in transportation aid and shared revenue account for more than half of the city’s overall increase in revenue for next year.
“Obviously, when our revenues go up, our expenses are going to go up because we have to have a balanced budget,” Soyk said.
On the expense side, Soyk said he kept many of the line items the same as this year, but he bumped up the buildings and maintenance amount by $5,000 in hopes of buying new security cameras and incorporated a possible $5,000 increase in premiums for property and liability insurance.
Soyk said Security Health’s renewal rate for 2025 is a 30 percent increase, so the insurance consortium the city belongs to is looking for a better deal through Aspirus Health.
Due to a possible cut in Clark County’s contribution to the Abbotsford Public Library, Soyk said he budgeted for a “worstcase scenario” that would increase the city’s allocation to the library by over $14,000 next year. Library director Jenny Jochimsen said the Abbotsford, Colby and Dorchester libraries are all at risk of losing thousands in county funding due to a proposed change in the funding formula (see separate story), but the county’s budget won’t be set until next month.
Soyk also pointed out that $40,000 has been budgeted for parks maintenance and operation, which does not include the $15,000 needed for fencing around a possible dog park.
“Right now, this budget does not have any funds for a dog park,” he said, noting that the city council can always add that money if it so chooses.
In other park-related matters, Soyk said the H.K. Christensen Foundation is donating $40,000 to add a pair of pickleball courts to Christensen Park, and is prepared to offer another $80,000 for new playground equipment, a walking path and upgrades to the existing pavilion if the city provides a $50,000 match. Soyk said the city’s match could be paid for using tax-incremental financing.
Raises approved
After meeting in closed session Monday, the council approved the following raises:
■ ■ $1 per hour more for all public works, water and wastewater employees and for part-time employee Deb Lenz.
■ ■ $1.50 per hour more for clerk/treasurer Erin Clausnitzer
■ ■ $1.50 per more for deputy clerk/treasurer Linda Filtzkowski
■ ■ DPW Craig Stuttgen’s salary was increased to $80,000
■ ■ Administrator Josh Soyk’s annual salary was increased to $85,000, with a five-year contract extension.
Other business
■ ■ Stuttgen said the newly purchased playground for Shortner Park has been installed just north of the pavilion, with 500 yards of fill used to even out the land around it. He also reported that Elm Street has been repaved, and a second lift of asphalt will be added by the end of the year.
■ ■ MSA engineers Dan Borchardt and Mike Voss provided progress reports to the council on several projects, including the extension of Swamp Buck Drive on the north end of the city. Borchardt said the new extension will be paved this fall after Boson Company finishes paving the parking lots at the new apartments.
For next year’s reconstruction of Fifth Street, from Spruce to Maple, Borchardt said the city is struggling to get enough income surveys completed by residents in that area so it can qualify for a Community Development Block Grant. Borhcardt said that project will require the city to obtain some permanent easements from property owners to do the work. The council approved a $4,800 contract amendment for MSA to work on the easements and certified survey maps.
Voss said MSA is waiting to close out the water tower rehabilitation project until receives another bill from Haas Sons so it can maximize the amount of principal forgiveness the city receives through the Safe Drinking Water Fund. The council approved a $117,163 pay request from Haas Sons for work it had previously done on the water tower.
■ ■ The council approved a $57,400 contract with MSA Professional Services to design an extension of Opportunity Drive to the east by 390 feet, along with a 400-foot northsouth road extension off the end of Opportunity. The project is estimated to cost $773,000 and will include a gravel road and water and sewer extensions into a planned cul de sac.
■ ■ The council approved pay requests from CTW Corporation and Haas Sons for work done on the city’s two newest wells, 28 and 29, but it held off on approving a $150,000 contract amendment from MSA for unanticipated work on the well project.
Soyk said he had no doubt that MSA had done the extra work, but the amended amount was over double the original $115,000 contract for the project, and the city has no way of paying for it out of this year’s budget. Voss said MSA would accept the payment in 2025 and noted that 50 percent of it would reimbursed by the DNR’s Safe Drinking Water Fund.
■ ■ The council approved conditional use permits for Samantha Gates to continue operating Happily Ever Eve, a resale shop at 114 N. Fourth St. (formerly Century 21), and for Rafael Aguilera to move Aguilera Auto Sales and Towing Services to the former Mid-State Trucking office at 624 S. Fourth Ave.
■ ■ The council waived a provision in the city’s ordinances that would have required the school district to devote 10 percent of its planned parking lot expansion to landscaping. Ald. Mason Rachu, the district’s maintenance manager, said the newly expanded parking lot at the high school will stretch all the way to Fourth Street and include sidewalks for kids to walk on.
■ ■ The council approved a street use permit for 3:10 Church, which will use the corner of Birch and Second Street for a Halloween party on Oct. 31, from 3 to 8 p.m.
■ ■ The council set trick-or-treating hours from 4 to 7 p.m. on Oct. 31.
