Edgerton City Council members passed the proposed 2020 budget during their August 22 meeting.
In the 2018 Citizen Survey, respondents asked City leaders to emphasize the visibility of police in neighborhoods and the quality of community public safety programs over the next two years. This new budget does exactly that.
The FY 2020 budget includes a 6.3% increase in funding for the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office, including the addition of what’s known as a “power shift” for residential Edgerton. An additional deputy will be assigned to patrol the residential areas 40 hours per week.
“We’re excited to meet ‘our’ deputy,” says Mayor Donald Roberts. “It’ll be great to have someone patrolling the streets that our residents know and can call whenever they need. I’m sure that he or she will be a real asset to Edgerton.”
“The Sheriff’s Office is very excited to have a full-time deputy dedicated to serve the city of Edgerton. We appreciate the partnership we have with the city and look forward to future opportunities to improve our community,” says Sheriff Calvin Hayden.
The total 2020 operating budget is about $5.6 million, which includes services such as administration, street maintenance, building inspection, code enforcement and utility operations.
Property taxes are forecast to slightly increase from 29.919 mills to 30.879 mills, which is roughly the same as property taxes in 2018, but still below the tax rate in 2017. The increase will help pay for the higher cost for policing services. The City’s portion is about 20% of property tax bills.
Residents should expect to see continued maintenance of streets in neighborhoods, more biking and walking trails, and development of the new Greenspace community building coming in the future.
