Dec 7, 2022 3 min read

Washington City Council will be voting on a 2023 budget Thursday that does not raise taxes.

“We will be presenting a balanced budget with no tax increase this year,” said Councilman Ken Westcott, who chairs the finance department, at Monday’s meeting.

The total general fund budget is $14,993,239, which Susie Koehler, deputy treasurer, said is down about $39,500 from the 2022 budget.

“There were a few line items that increased slightly,” Koehler said, referring to salary lines due to contractual obligations and employee health care. “But we managed to adjust a few transfers to offset this cost so there will be no tax increase.”

Millage in the city is levied at 38.71 mills for land and 4.03 for buildings. Those figures have remained the same since 2019.

Taxes are anticipated to generate about 64% of anticipated revenue, while departmental costs cover the majority of anticipated expenditures. The anticipated cost for police protection is nearly $2.7 million and fire protection is expected to cost a little more than $1.8 million.

“Everything is staying pretty consistent with what we’ve had,” Koehler said.

Council also is expected to vote Thursday on three ordinances designed to battle blight in the city. The first reading of the ordinances took place Monday.

One ordinance amends current regulations of abandoned properties and establishes an abandoned residential/commercial property registration program.

Under the new regulation, owners of such properties must have an inspection of the property. If it is found to be vacant and/or abandoned, the property must be registered within 90 days with the city’s Department of Code Enforcement.

All maintenance and security requirements must be upheld and monthly inspections are necessary to make sure those requirements are being met. Violations can result in a fine of $500.

Also on the agenda for Thursday is a quality-of-life ticketing ordinance, geared toward expediting the enforcement process in battling blight. It would allow the city to levy a fine for violations of property maintenance such as high grass, garbage dumping and similar issues.

“This creates a ticketing type of ordinance for code enforcement to use where you get a ticket first,” explained Donn Henderson, city administrator. “This will give (code enforcement officer) Jeff (Donatelli) some quick response if people want to deal with it or if they want to end up just going to court over it. They can pick their poison, so to speak.”

The third ordinance regulates the maintenance of junked motor vehicles and accessories and provides for penalties for violations.

Also, a demolition hearing is scheduled for Thursday at 6:30 p.m., prior to the 7 p.m. council meeting.

Donatelli said there are 10 properties on the list for demolition.

“We’re probably going to be moving forward with six out of the 10,” he said. “Four of those people have made substantial efforts to get off of that list.”