COLD SPRING -- The City of Cold Spring has big plans for next year.

The city council approved the proposed 2017 preliminary levy Tuesday night. Changes will be able to be made (only decreases) to the preliminary levy, with the final levy being approved in December.

As for right now the city is planning to have a total proposed tax levy of just over $1.4 million from 2017 this will be about $254,000 increase from this year.

City Administrator Brigid Murphy says the city will be adding staff, replacing city vehicles and engaging in many construction projects next year.

"Some of the other items in there are the promenade, from Main Street to Highway 23 along the river -- putting in the walkway we've been talking about for years. Most of it is small departmental things, we have to trade out two cars for public works, a couple of the sqaud cars need replacement."

Murphy says the bulk of the increase is coming from the bonds that we're approved last spring and they will also be hiring at least one part-time administrative assistant for the government center.

A plan for a new government center or possibly renovating the existing government offices building has been discussed throughout the year, Murphy says at this point this is not a project they are budgeting for, for 2017.

"None of the anticipated results of our space study would be in 2017. I'm not even sure if they would be in 2018. It's probably going to be done in late December where every department knows exactly what they need for space, what this building can do to meet that space, and if it's not here there will be some recommendations in that study on where in the community to put them."

Murphy says the size will also be a contributing factor and during the space study the city will be considering current usage of space as well as projecting the future growth of each department to determine the amount of space needed as the city grows.

 

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