Janesville City Manager Mark Freitag presented the proposed 2023 city budget to the city council at Monday night’s meeting.
When asked if there was a way to avoid the proposed 5% increase in property taxes, Freitag said that in order to continue to provide the level of services the city does, residents would need to be willing to pay that amount. If they wished for that number to lower, residents would need to be willing to give up certain services.
The proposed budget also showed a $131,000 increase in the cities biggest chunk of the budget, employee wages.
Freitag said that a peer community study by Baker Tilly found that a 5% increase in cost of labor adjustment was needed, and also going from 26 pay grades to 15 caused some people to move up and some to move down in pay grade.
An early November meeting will be the first opportunity for the public to voice their opinion on the cities budget.
