Clear Lake council to consider adopting FY 2022 budget tonight

CLEAR LAKE — The Clear Lake City Council tonight will consider adopting the Fiscal Year 2022 budget that starts on July 1st.

City Administrator Scott Flory says the tax rate for the city is proposed to remain unchanged from its current rate of $9.70 per $1000 assessed valuation.  “The remarkable thing about this is that this is six straight years now where the city’s share of the tax rate has either declined or remained constant, so no increase. We go back to Fiscal Year 2017 when the tax rate decreased from $10.54 to $10.04. In Fiscal Year 2018, the tax rate was dropped from $10.04 to $9.80. In Fiscal Year 2019, we dropped it from $9.80 to $9.70, and that’s where it’s remained ever since.”

Flory says it’s a terrific rate to have for the Clear Lake community.  “For Fiscal Year 2021, that was the fifth lowest tax rate in the state of Iowa for communities with a population of at least 4,000 people or higher. That’s really remarkable company that we’re in there. Some communities you are looking at a tax rate well into the $20 category, so to have a tax rate at $9.70 is really a remarkable thing for us.”

Flory says Clear Lake has had a positive trend in the last few years on property valuations.  “For Fiscal Year 2022, we had an increase of a little over $33 million in taxable valuation. That’s consistent with communities that are much, much larger than Clear Lake. While that was not as large as it was in some previous years, it’s still a 4.5% increase, so that’s significant.”

The council will hold a public hearing prior to considering the adoption of the budget. The council meets at 6 o’clock tonight at City Hall.