Manhattan City Commissioners heard requests from outside agencies at City Hall on Tuesday evening during their third work session on the 2018 city budget and capital improvements plan.
Seven outside agencies made budget requests to commissioners for a total of $740, 118. The agencies requesting funding included the Social Services Advisory board, the Flint Hills Transportation service, Downtown Manhattan, Inc.; Manhattan Public Library, Manhattan Arts Center, Aggieville Business District, Wolf House Museum, and Housing Credit Counseling, Inc.
The department of finance is currently operating on a budget of $148,812,497 — a 1% increase from 2017. This would come with a mill levy increase of .995 mills. The city could set its mill levy at 49.019 mills and collect over $27 million in property taxes. Manhattan’s total mill levy would be 144.865 mills.
“I’d like to follow the lead of (the Riley) county commission, and not do anything with the mill levy,” said commissioner Wynn Butler.
Butler and commissioner Mike Dodson voiced their criticisms of Tuesday night’s developments. At the fourth work session on July 11, the Convention and Visitors Bureau and Manhattan Area Chamber of Commerce will detail their requests. At least two budget work sessions remain, but Mayor Usha Reddi said the requests on Tuesday came from agencies which aid Manhattan’s “invisible population.”
“Sometimes our community doesn’t see them,” Reddi said. “There are workers who work with them on a daily basis … and they’re working on shoestring budgets here.”
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