“There have been a lot of things done by the Council, myself, and the staff that in large part have got us to this point.” Manitowoc Mayor Justin Nickels referring to the city’s current financial health.
When he took office in 2009 the undesignated-or rainy day-fund had approximately $16,000. Nearly 11 years later that balance sits at just over $5.6 million and total debt decreased by almost $6.4 million during the current fiscal year.
“We did have a plan in place that called for a few slight tax increases over the years that went directly toward debt reduction.” Nickels explained. “We’ve done donor distressed TIF districts which has helped the TIF negative that helps bring down the overall debt. Our priority was to lower down debt to get our financial situation to where our undesignated reserves for rainy days goes up so here, we are today with even more good news.”
Nickels admits to a bit of concern due to the pandemic that’s anticipated to cut into the City’s share of shared revenue from the state. He called it a “…huge unknown and a huge risk that we are planning for. That’s why we put into place a hiring and unnecessary spending freeze for the rest of 2020 to prepare for what may come in terms of shared revenue but overall the city’s financial position should help through a lot of possible difficult times unlike maybe a lot of other communities.”
The Mayor adds “If we were in the financial position of ten years ago dealing with all of this (COVID 19) I would be very-very worried.”
Work on the 2021 budget began about a month ago with plans for the City Council to pass it in November.
