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Yelm Mayor Ron Harding gave a brief overview of the proposed 2012 budget at the Chamber of Commerce Luncheon yesterday.

Estimated budget for 2012 is $5.9M which is $0.4M less than 2011’s budget.  $3.9M of that estimate is expected to come from tax revenue, $1.5M from 2011 reserves and the balance from variety of smaller sources like utility payments, etc .  Property Tax and Real Estate Excise Tax are two of the taxes collected by the city.

It is interesting to note that when property values were high the city did NOT collect extra taxes.  They only collected enough to cover budgeted expenses based on pro-rated property values.  Now, that property values have declined, they have declined across the board, and the portion of overall taxes that everyone has to pay remains about the same.

With the uncertainty of the Real Estate Market, the city has chosen to budget for less receivable income from Real Estate Excise Tax in 2012.  In 2011, the city budgeted for 45 housing starts.  In 2012 only 25 are planned.

Among the general expenditure items are $1.5M for public safety and $1.125M for reserve fund.

The new budget also includes items left over from last year’s budget, such as purchase of two new police cars, a new ADA door for city hall, a riding lawn mower, a tractor/street edging machine, more seating for Longmire Park and a new Street Sweeper.

A project of primary importance for the city is the purchase of a building for the Yelm Timberland Library. The city is working on that project with Timberland Regional Library, The Friends of the Library and the owners of Prairie Park, where the Library is currently located.

Questions were raised by the Real Estate professionals on availability of water for new construction and the future of the Yelm By-Pass.

A new well has been drilled in the Tahoma Terra development area.  At this time, Dept of Ecology has issued a ruling whereby water hook ups would be available for approximately 20 years growth.  However, this ruling is in the appeal period and has not yet been accepted as law.  Assuming that it is, then further engineering of the treatment facilities, reservoir and water system must be done to complete the project.

The By Pass is still a work in progress, with the city writing grant applications and lobbing for additional funds from the State.  For now, there is no definite completion date for this project.