HOISINGTON — The Hoisington City Council, at its regular meeting on Monday, approved a resolution to put on the November ballot a raise in retail sales tax of .25 of one percent for the community. This increase will put the city at the same increment as the city of Great Bend.
If approved, it will go into effect April 1, 2015. It is expected to raise $60,000-$70,000 per year, City Manager Jonathan Mitchell told the council.
Council member Chris Smith said if it doesn’t pass the city may have to raise on property taxes.
The council has been discussing the issue due to infrastructure improvements needed in the city. The purposes listed were for maintaining public streets and infrastructure, stabilizing the mill levy and maintaining or improving the swimming pool.
The council approved publishing of the 2015 budget with a stable mill levy assessment at 62.842 mills, which is the same as last year. The city valuation is estimated to go up from 9,418,955 to 9,499,649 for 2015.
A budget hearing will be held at 7:30 p.m. on Aug. 11.
Several members of the audience were present to speak to the council. Bryce Clark lived in same place for 29 years and received a citation for parking his vehicles in the front yard on an improved driveway, saying that no one told him about the city’s new parking ordinance. A story about the ordinance appeared in the July 1 issue of the Great Bend Tribune.
Clark wondered why nobody knocked on the door and wondered if there could be courtesy call or something.
Tate Shelton was present to protest a bill. His wife owns a vacant lot in Hoisington. He said he does mow it every 2-3 weeks, but it was mowed by the city during the rains earlier this year. He questioned the hours with the bill. He was billed the administration fee plus 3.5 hours.  Shelton said it usually takes him under an hour to mow it and under two hours at three weeks growth with a 21” mower.
“Does the city question the contractor?” said Shelton. “It just seems kind of high. I don’t see how anyone could justify 3.5 hours for that lot.” CDUB Construction did the work.
Council member Mike Alyward said somebody needs to look into it if it takes Shelton two hours to mow and it took the contractor 3.5 hours to mow.
The city will double check with the contractor and look at getting more information from the contractor.
City audit
The city sought three bids for the city audit. They received a bid from Adams, Brown, Beran and Ball for $43,070; from Clubine and Rettele for $27,180; and from Jerred, Gilmore and Phillips for $35,600. The bid includes city audits for 2014, 2015 and 2016 and two single audits.
The city did interviews with firms last week, including ABBB from whom the city has been using for approximately 20 years. They asked ABBB to negotiate in price and were told there no room for negotiation. Clubine and Rettele is out of Saline and has a satellite office in Ellsworth.
The city approved the bid from Clubine and Rettele.
Mitchell reported that repairs to the leaks at the pool appear to be holding. The pool opened July 7 and has had 4,142 visitors in shortened season. They plan to stay open until Aug. 16 when the lifeguard leave for college. Alyward asked if the days could be extended due to the shortened swimming season.
In final business, the council heard:
•The rental licensing meeting will be held at 7 p.m. on Aug. 14.
•The city will seek a lower interest rate for bonds.