The city of Stevens Point presented its initial capital budget draft for the fiscal year of 2017 during the Finance Committee meeting Monday, Sept. 12. The draft “holds the line” and keeps the tax levy rates steady.

During the budget process, the various city departments all draft their budget requests. These requests include a prioritized list building/office maintenance needs, city infrastructure upgrade needs, etc.

The Stevens Point comptroller/treasurer then takes those requests and drafts a budget based on how much money the city is able to afford through taxes.

Comptroller/Treasurer Cory Ladick said it’s not an easy job to balance the departmental needs and wants with the available money without raising taxes or cutting money to services elsewhere.

The city proposed a total capital budget of $4.6 million for 2017, which is up from last year’s $3.5 million. However, the need for capital improvements are starting to pile up, and city officials say the city needs to stay caught up.

“(This budget) was actually a little bit more (requested) than in previous years, but we’re really seeing the backlog of capital really start to add up,” Ladick said. “We had a tough year for capital, tougher than the last few years.”

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