Sparta 2013 Budget Bumps Taxes $44

The owner of a home assessed at the township average will see a $44 municipal property tax hike following the Tuesday passage of the 2013 township budget.

The Township Council unanimously approved the $24.5 million budget that calls for $15.9 million to be raised by local taxes.

The owner of a home assessed at the township average of $295,600 will pay $1,998 in municipal  property taxes this year. That homeowner will also pay $32.52 in municipal open space taxes, and $138.64 to support the Sparta Public Library.

Township Administrator David Troust said the 1.82 percent budget increase was the smallest in several years. In 2010, he said the township had a 6 percent increase, and in 2012, a 3.14 percent increase.

The council accomplished two important goals with the budget, Troust said. First, it added $500,000 to the capital improvements fund to increase that budget line to $1 million. The goal, he said, is to begin paying cash for such items as roads repairs and some construction projects.

The second important step was to increase the budget surplus account by $900,000 to $2.3 million.

The increased surplus gives the township more ability to meet emergency needs and to cash on hand to pay for payments required following successful tax appeals, he said.

Those steps reflected budget goals set by Mayor Gilbert Gibbs at the beginning of the year.

State aid is flat at $1.293 million, but officials said that number is deceiving.

Financial director Sam Rome said the state aid does not include a projected $944,633 in gross receipts taxes, funds paid to the state by public utilities.

That tax was once paid directly to municipalities as compensation for hosting power facilities like power lines and transformer stations, Rome said. Starting in 2001, the  state had the utilities pay the taxes directly to the state, he said.  According to information Rome provided to the council, beginning in 2006, the state began to take a larger share of the utility taxes, with amounts sent to towns dropping sharply annually since 2008.

Rome estimated the state had failed to return to Sparta more than $5 million of these taxes since 2001.

The council also approved a $3.275 million water utility budget; a $1.2 million sewer budget; and a $1.773 million solid waste budget.

Rome said after several years of work, all three of the public utilities are self-funded and require no support from the general municipal budget.