by Devin McCue, Sumner Newscow — The main order of business this week for the Wellington City Council was to pass the 2021 budget. But the Mayor’s diatribe on Wellingtonites’ “privileged” utilities will be what people remember the most (more on that in a bit).

The public services in question ranged from the 2022 general fund (that finances most city operations) to the trash collectors. Here’s a quick breakdown:

2022 city budget

This is something the City will have to do every year due to inflation and only amounts to a nominal amount in your property taxes. This year was different, however, because a new state law mandates that cities must hold a public hearing before increasing annual budgets.

While that seems like a good idea, it means the budget has already been delayed over a month, just to hold a public hearing that no one showed up to.

The Council unanimously agreed to increase the city’s tax levy by 2.06 mills for a total of $2.75 million. Roughly $90,000 more than last year and in line with a typical budget increase.

That increase means a house valued at $75,000 will see an increase of just over $17 annually on their property taxes.

In exchange, public utilities from the EMS to the library will keep their funding and even see a bump in the coming year. You can find a more detailed breakdown of the funds on page 54 of the meetings minutes here.

Sanitation collection budget

The sanitation department that handles the city’s waste has been underfunded for the last few years and this increase remedies that.

Firstly, it will increase wages for the workers and bring them more in line with neighboring communities. Secondly, the increase will fix aging equipment, including the trucks themselves.

The costs for consumers amount to:

• $1 per ton at the landfill for municipal solid waste
• $4 per ton for construction and demolition
• $1.50 per month for residential collection
• 7% for commercial customers.

That means a typical business in town with one dumpster would see an increase of $3 to $10 per month, depending on the number of days serviced.

This is only the third price increase since 2011 and will raise $100,000 for the department. $30,000 of which will go into a residual fund for any surprise expenditures.

Landfill rate

This increase was targeted at out-of-county patrons of the city’s landfill.

Wellington’s landfill rates on objects like tires and mattresses are lower than surrounding areas resulting in out-of-towners traveling in with bulk loads that overwhelm the landfill. The targeted increases mean a 2-cent charge per pound on household trash with heftier single charges on objects like big tires.

So, if people are renovating their homes, they won’t see much of a change if they drop off two mattresses. However, people bringing in 20 tractor tires, should expect a charge of up to $65 each after a certain number.

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Mayor’s speech

Unfortunately, the meeting that included the most significant budget decisions of the year was overshadowed by the diatribe unleashed by Mayor Valentine.

Jim Valentine

If you get your utilities from the city, you probably noticed that the bill was significantly higher this cycle and stretched over a longer time period than usual. The city released a full statement on its website here, but it boils down to a few things.

The biggest reason is that temperatures have been unexpectantly high, which means more people will need to use their air conditioners for longer periods of time.

The next contributing factor is staff shortages. The abnormal rates meant that more and more readers needed to be physically rechecked, which stretched the department thin. By the time staff had a chance to check every meter, there were already 10 extra days on the billing period.

If you’d like to keep your bill steadier by spreading out your total energy costs over the year, consider the City’s Average Monthly Payment Plan. See if you qualify here.

So, was this the Council’s fault? It doesn’t seem so, but that didn’t stop people from criticizing the group on social media which is the right of every taxpayer.

Mayor Valentine took offense to some of these statements and launched a counterattack during his public remarks.

Valentine started by saying in the Facebook group:

“This council will not stoop down to the intelligence level of some of you people.”

He then argued that public utilities are a privilege, rather than a right, so if people need to use their air conditioning, they’ll need to pay for it.

Mayor Valentine then stated that citizens should travel to Louisiana where ‘they don’t have toilets or running water’ and then re-examine their position on utilities. This is an obvious reference to an area that Hurricane Ida devastated last week and killed 26 people that we know about.

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In lighter news, the Council passed several important resolutions and ordinances that had nothing to do with budgets, nor social media fights.

•Washington Street from 3rd to 8th Street will be closed on October 7 from 5 to 6:45 p.m. for the Wellington High School Homecoming Parade.

•Washington Street from 7th to 8th Street will be closed on October 9 from 5 a.m. – 6 p.m. for the Fall Festival. The festival will have live music, dance performances, a chili/cinnamon roll cookoff, a hot wheel car race, and much more so please come to the event.

•Additionally, they’ll be burying the new time capsule and if you’d like to include something inside it there’s an entry form on their Facebook page.

The meeting adjourned an hour and a half after starting.

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