Apple Valley's 2012 Budget Includes $9M for Road Construction

The preliminary 2012 budget the Apple Valley City Council passed this week includes $9.3 million for road construction as part of the city's proposed $54 million budget for next year.

The general fund makes up $24.52 million of that sum, which rounds to $1.21 million less than the $25.74 million general fund of .

About 74 percent of the general fund revenue in 2012 is slated to come from taxes, compared to 75 percent of the larger general fund in 2011. Salaries and benefits should make up about $16.6 million of the general fund expenses, up from $16.25 million in 2011.

2012 Road Projects

The $9.3 million slated for road work in 2012 will cover construction of new roads, street reconstruction and resurfacing and overlays. Major projects planned include:

• Construction of new road extending 147th Street West from Flagstaff Avenue to Johnny Cake Ridge Road
• Extending Flagstaff Avenue from south of 140th Street West to 147th Street West
• Reconstructing the streets in the Greenleaf neighborhood, north of 140th Street West and east of Galaxie Avenue
• Reconstruction of Whitney Drive from Garden View Drive to Pennock Avenue

Staffing

The city also will bring more engineering positions in-house to save money.

Hiring a construction supervisor, a project inspector and a summer intern should save $368,000 the first year, and $160,000 per year after that, according to a budget memo.

In 2010, the city brought a city engineer and assistant engineer in-house to save money otherwise spent on more expensive services from consulting firms.

Other city positions that remain vacant, due to retirement, resignation or promotion, are two maintenance workers, four police officers and one police records technician, one deputy fire chief and a building inspector. The budget indicates the city will need to hire another code enforcement officer to fill a vacancy there.

Other Items

• About $1 million from the city's park dedication fund and a $2 million loan from the future capital projects fund for the city's .

• About $525,000 from the municipal liquor fund will go to parks and recreation, as well as to buy five new police squad cars, in 2012.

• The budget also includes $195,000 to, by August, complete plans to expand the city's water treatment plant. Preparation for the expansion began in 2010, and once expanded the facility should have the capacity to serve the city through 2030, according to the budget.

As part of its approvals on Tuesday, the council also adopted a tax levy of $22,025,249, which is down about $675,000, or 2.97 percent, from last year. The levy can be adjusted downward before the council passes a final budget in December, but it can't go up from that amount.

Read Apple Valley Patch's story from Wednesday to and about the different factors that play into those totals.