The way the City of Decorah spends money would be slightly changed under a proposal

Any budget is an estimate.  When the City of Decorah prepares a budget, the aim is to have enough money on hand to cover any emergencies, but to avoid raising property tax mill rates.

City officials are now drafting a policy that would set a goal of having a higher undesignated cash balance in the General Fund at fiscal year end. What that means is that the city would put more money in its reserve funds.

Currently the undesignated cash balance has been slightly above 24 percent of the overall city budget.  The policy being considered would set a goal of having 25 to 30 percent of budgeted expenditures as undesignated cash.  The policy also would require that any time the general fund balance is projected to, or does, drop below 20 percent, the city council would have to approve formal action to increase that level before it could formally adopt the budget.