Is the Lincoln City Council willing to raise your taxes to accommodate the mayor's proposed budget?

Mayor Chris Beutler officially handed his budget proposal to Lincoln's City Council Monday with a plea to keep Lincoln's city programs well funded at all costs.

Out of the seven city council members, three outright oppose raising the tax, three others say they're undecided but leaning toward no and only one said it was a realistic option. However, Beutler is hoping they'll all see it's the right thing to do.

"I do not want to preside over a city that is deteriorating or becoming ordinary or mundane," Beutler said.

Beutler said that's exactly what will happen if Lincoln doesn't fix its budget problems.

The mayor was charged with closing a $6 million budget shortfall this year. After making big cuts, he decided the only way to maintain city services is to raise property tax to gain $1.5 million -- something city council members are wary of.

"Certainly I pledged not to raise property taxes. I think there are ways to trim the budget. Cut the budget in necessary ways to bridge the gaps without raising taxes," said Ken Svoboda, Lincoln City Council.

But the mayor said Lincoln has reached a critical mass when it comes to cuts. Over the last 15 years, the city has grown by more than 25 percent, but the number of city employees has shrunk 5.1 percent in that time.

"I think that has to be quantified. If you look at the dollar of real estate taxes collected 10 years ago versus the dollars collected today, it's grown," said Jon Camp, Lincoln City Council.

"Just because we may not have significant numbers of employee increases. We've had good computerization, so we're using technology."

Some want to use more one time funding sources like the $10 million fast forward fund to bridge gaps.

"It's going to be very difficult to go back to my constitutes and say we have $8.5 million sitting out there and we need a tax increase," said John Spatz, Lincoln City Council.

But a few council members also realize cuts eventually have to be offset, or Lincoln will suffer.

"That's a question that we as a city and we as a council have to address: are we to a point we can't cut any further?" Spatz said.

The city council will now meet with city department heads over the next month, and see if more cuts are possible. Although the members seem to be leaning away from a tax increase, it's still too early to say for sure.

Only one thing is absolute: The budget has to be balanced, and if there isn't a tax increase, $1.5 million will have to come out of some other part of the $135 million budget.
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*The city council voted Monday to support working with the Lancaster County Board on a financing plan for the new jail.

*The council also unanimously passed the increase for housing code violations. Homeowners or landlords will be fined up to $200 for their first offense and up to $3000 for their third.