The Mitchell City Council held a special meeting last night to canvass the results of last Tuesday’s election. Following the special meeting, the council held a work session where the cost of the Lake Mitchell project was discussed. The complete project, which includes dredging, is expected to cost $25 million. The city would take out a 30-year SRF loan at 3.25 percent interest, which would add another $14.4 million. Barr Engineering also recommended that the city treat the lake annually. That will add $500,000 per year to the cost from 2027 to 2055.  The annual treatments would increase the total cost to nearly $54 million, or around $1.8 million per year.

The money to pay for the loan and treatments would come from the general fund. Councilman Steve Rice said he was concerned about revenues, having looked at the city’s finances for the past 14 years.  “In those 14 years, there’s 8 of those 14 years where revenue went down,” Rice said.  “There’s 4 of those 14 that are really good years, and then the others, some kind of break even, and 1 or 2 years that you’d really hurt in trying to come up with general fund.”

City Administrator Stephanie Ellwein was asked if the lake project would hamstring the city when it comes to other future projects.  “It’s a little difficult for me to answer that,” she told the council.  “A lot of times we have a balanced budget, and then during the year, we come up with projects that are $500,000 that weren’t budgeted, and then we do them.  If this is council’s priority, you put this into the budget first, and then everything else is done afterwards.”  She added that she anticipates that city revenues will increase in future years.

Barr Engineering is expected to make a presentation at next Tuesday’s Mitchell City Council meeting.  A vote on the Lake Mitchell project will likely follow.