Prior to the end of this year, citizens will know whether their taxes will increase.

At the city council workshop Monday night, the council discussed possible property tax increases that would be payable in 2003.

The tax levy recommendations from Administrative Services Director Linda Wiggins are to help cover payments on bonds the city has issued, the Taylor Municipal Airport and pensions for police and fire officials.

Wiggins’ proposal says that property taxes would increase $33.40 for a $150,000 home a year, or about 9 cents a day.

Despite this, the recommendations were questioned extensively by Mayor Greg Sparrow and the council.

First Ward Alderman Andy Small said that increasing property taxes would not be a good idea because of the results from the referendum which failed at the polls in November.

“It’s pretty clear that they don’t want to increase property taxes,” Small said. “Any tax would not particularly be good.”

Many suggestions were made on how to change the proposal – the general consensus being that budget cuts could be made elsewhere before raising taxes.

Fifth Ward Alderman Pat Conboy said he thought the increase does not have to happen because of the potential sales revenue coming from Kohl’s.

While other aldermen agreed, Second Ward Alderman Kris Povlsen said if the city keeps approving annexation, there is no way the city can afford to keep taxes the same.

But as Third Ward Alderman Steve Kapitan said, the natural gas use tax discussed Monday night would help relieve the increase in other taxes.

While the council did not want to raise taxes and provided suggestions for doing otherwise, Wiggins defended her proposal.

“I will be back in June with a balanced budget, but it will not be a pretty scene for any of us,” Wiggins said referring to the country’s poor economic situation. She said she would make changes to the proposal where she could

Kapitan said that the taxes boil down to how much the city wants to grow, which led to the discussion of the summit Sparrow has suggested.

During the meeting, Sparrow said he talked to almost all of the local governments interested in participating in the summit.

“What we want to do is pinpoint a focus we are trying to arrive at,” Sparrow said.

But standing in the way, as Sparrow acknowledged, is the sanitary district.

He thinks this because, for example, Cortland suffers from an overworked sanitary district. Beyond that, there is no possibility of growth, he said.

Once DeKalb’s Sanitary District figures the population it can handle, things can move forward.

“The bottom line here is, let’s get to an agreement a vast majority of citizens can agree to,” Sparrow said.