The Kalona City Council approved the city’s 2022 fiscal year budget following a public hearing Monday night.

Next year’s budget is nearly identical to the 2021 budget at just under $3.5 million. City Administrator Ryan Schlabaugh says most expenses will stay the same thanks to revenues that have weathered the pandemic better than anticipated, “For a community like Kalona we didn’t see a dip in our local option sales tax, we held true there with that biggest mover that we see. That’s held pretty consistently throughout this all and our projections for next fiscal year really showed some increases which might be a reflection of individuals staying closer to home and where they choose to spend their money. So we were positive for what we saw for increases there.”

Schlabaugh says they were conservative with allocating city funds because the revenue projections are only estimates, but they will spend more on public safety due to increased cost for their contract with the Washington County Sheriff’s Office which will help pay for an additional deputy to patrol the city. He says there will also be a three percent increase for the Kalona Volunteer Fire Department and Kalona Volunteer EMS.