Idaho Falls city council tidies up budget

Final touches have been officially made to the City of Idaho Falls budget for the next fiscal year.

After the city council unanimously voted not to raise property taxes in August, they had to decide where to cut and by how much, to cover the deficit.

“The budget was approved a number of weeks ago and now we’re just trying to find the money and we pretty well have, so that we’re flat with no tax increase,” said Ida Hardcastle, council president.

City council members said $823,000 worth of cuts needed to be made, and after Tuesday’s meeting, councilors cut $597,000, which means $244,000 will have to come from the city’s savings account.

Parks and Recreation suffered a large cut of $120,500 but it’s not the only department to feel the pinch.

“Planning and Building — we eliminated two new employees for that which added up to about $120,000, so that was another big cut,” said Hardcastle.

One thing the council didn’t want to cut was $90,000 worth of snow removal from 2,500 driveways during the winter months.

“By my calculation it turns out to be about $4 a driveway when we clear two huge front loaders of snow out of each person’s driveway,” said Sharon Perry, council member. “It’s a great deal.”

You may remember back in August, city council discussed raising property taxes by 3 percent but decided against it.

City leaders said taxes haven’t had to be raised in years and that’s something they’re proud of.