City budget: no layoffs needed

• Water Tower

The Two Harbors City Council approved more than $3 million for a new water tower to replace the aging structure near Antonich Field. Photo by Matt Suoja

Talk about it

City employees won’t be laid off, and more important to residents, services won’t be cut, according to preliminary budget talks discussed at the Two Harbors City Council meeting Monday.

The budget will be tighter than last year’s, considering Two Harbors received about $225,000 less in state aid. But, said City Councilor Mary Henjum Rosati, “No services will change. … We balanced the budget.”

Rosati went on to say that department heads were very conservative in requests for their needs.

“In a perfect world, we would have given everything that people asked for,” she said.

City employees, along with the other residents of Two Harbors, will be hit financially in another fashion: A proposed property tax levy for 2010 will see a 4.5 percent increase.

One of the reasons for the increase is for construction of a new water tower.

Earlier this summer, the council accepted a bid from Caldwell Tank for $3,031,000 for a water tower to replace the old one near Antonich Field. Mayor Randy Bolen previously said the existing water tower needed repairs that were cost prohibitive.

The new 150 foot tower would be located across from the Louisiana-Pacific entrance.

The final budget and levy will not be decided on until December.

The council also passed resolutions for the proposed tax levy and budget.

In other City Council business:

- There will be a special City Council meeting at 7 p.m. Monday, Sept. 21 at City Hall. The purpose is to conduct a public hearing regarding a proposed special archery hunt for white tailed deer within the city limits.

City Councilor Chris Swanson said the meeting is needed because of an excessive amount of deer population in the area. Similar ordinances have been passed in other locales of the Northland.

- The new Bodies in Balance is open for business.

Amy Poe, the owner of the business, had previously been in a dispute with the North Shore Business Enterprise Center, where her business was formerly located, over how long she could continue to rent there while pursuing building a new facility. She signed a lease that stopped eviction proceedings in March.

Tags: two harbors, city council, property taxes, news, budget