Decorah City Council begins work on 2013-2014 city budget

The Decorah City Council has begun a review of the proposed 2013-2014 city budget.

But a three and a half hour budget session Tuesday didn't find much room for maneuvering.  City officials have a goal of keeping the city tax levy constant from this year's rate of $12.54 per $1,000 of assessed valuation.

The city council had new spending requests of over $600,000, but appears to be committed to limiting any new spending to the $78,000 that would be raised by a 27 cent "emergency levy" permitted by state law.