City of Waukee Tax Rate to Remain the Same for 14th Straight Year

The city of Waukee's property tax rate will remain unchanged for the 14th straight year, the City Council decided unanimously Monday, according to the Des Moines Register.

Under the finalized budget, the city’s tax rate will remain at $13.50 per $1,000 of assessed value for the 2013-14 fiscal year, which starts July 1.

Waukee’s general fund expenditures next year are projected to be $7.1 million, which is an increase of about 6.9 percent from the current budget of about $6.6 million, the newspaper said. During budget talks, city officials said that additional expenses would be paid for with additional property tax revenue.

Council members Shelly Hughes, Dan Dutcher, Casey Harvey and Shane Blanchard all voted to approve the budget, the Register said. Councilman Mike Watts was absent.

Council members also unanimously voted to give $10,000 to the Waukee Public Art Committee for the Raccoon River Valley trailhead art installation project near 10th Street and Hickman Road. The trail runs through Greene, Guthrie and Dallas counties.

Contract Delayed on Library Expansion

The council delayed a vote on a contract for the Ori library addition, which saw six contractors bidding on the work. A low base bid of $539,000 was submitted by Lansink Construction of Johnston, according to city documents.

The 1,900-square-foot library expansion will include a meeting room and coal mining museum. The rejection of an earlier round of bids pushed back the opening until October, Patch earlier reported.

 who died in October 2010. He left a bequest to honor his parents, and those associated with the Shuler Mine, which employed many Waukee residents in the early 1900s.

Ori, 87 at the time of his death, left at least half a million dollars to the library in his will.

"They specified that we build a meeting room in honor of his parents," Library Director Eric Surber said in 2011. "I think he wanted to honor not only his parents, but also the immigrant community in general."

Surber said Ori and his family lived in Waukee and worked in the Shuler Mine, which operated in the first half of the 1900s. The money Ori willed to the library — expected to be between $500,000 and $700,000 — was designated as a way to honor his parents, Ernest and Casimira Ori, Italian immigrants who lived in Waukee until their deaths in 1974 and 1982, respectively.