Prairie Village staff aim to hold services, property taxes at current levels for 2013

Prairie Village city staff have unveiled a general outline for a proposed 2013 budget, and say they are working to keep existing service levels intact without raising property taxes.

City Administrator Quinn Bennion told the City Council earlier this week his proposed budget would hold the city’s mill levy at 19.491 and the stormwater utility fee at $.04 per square foot of impervious surface. He also said the city hoped to keep the annual solid waste fee at $200.74 per household, though that may rise depending on negotiations with Deffenbaugh, the city’s waste removal contractor.

Bennion told the council that the city’s financial outlook for the coming year was stable — news that pleased many councilors who had had to make difficult funding decisions in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. In recent years, the council has approved relatively minor mill levy increases to make ends meet. The city raise the property tax rate .6 mills last year, increasing the average Prairie Village homeowner’s tax bill by $33.75. In 2010, the budget included a .692 mills increase.

Bennion told the council that the proposed budget for 2013 would be less that what he’d submitted for 2012.

“We’ve always been fiscally conservative, and that helps when you have lean times,” Bennion said. “And our property owners take care of their homes — which also helps.”