Ambulance to construct sleeping quarters

By Chad Koenen

Publisher

City of Henning residents will notice an increase in their taxes next year.

During its regularly scheduled meeting last Monday night, the Henning City Council approved a 20 percent increase to the city’s general tax levy. The increase in the levy is the same that was proposed in September, which will generate about $40,000 in additional revenue next year.

Henning Mayor Robert Johnson said he did receive a few phone calls from residents about the proposed tax levy, which comes on the heels of a 13 percent tax levy increase last year. However, Johnson said most of the concerns he heard revolved around the school portion of the tax levy increase, which rose due to the school district’s indoor air quality and building improvement.

Johnson said he explained to the residents that they would need to take up their concerns with the school district as the city has no say in what the school district sets its levy at each year. 

Earlier this fall City of Henning staff said a large tax levy increase was needed to help fund several upcoming projects, including the Highway 108 project coming through Henning in 2024, as well as ongoing maintenance repairs that have been put off over time. 

In other news

• Approved scheduling a special city council meeting, which was held on Monday, Dec. 11, to discuss several concerns at Willow Creek. Among the concerns are a number of openings on the Willow Creek Commission and the ongoing discussion concerning on-call pay Willow Creek, which could have an impact on other city staff positions. 

• Heard there are currently 28 residents at Willow Creek, with 20 residents on services. 

• Approved contributing up to $20,000 to the softball field restoration project. The money has been put in the 2024 budget and can be used to help get grants to pay for the expansive restoration project. 

• Approved a request from a local resident to start a town ball baseball team in Henning as soon as next summer, which would play its home games at Tony Kawlewski Field.

• Approved setting a $2,000 fee for hooking up to city water and sewer. The change came just one month after the city council made a similar change to hookup charges for electric and natural gas. 

• Approved a land split at Willow Creek. Much of the property across the road from the assisted living facility, which included the new main lift station and walking path, was included as the same property as Willow Creek Assisted Living Center. The city approved splitting the assisted living facility and area across the road into two parcels. 

• Heard the new lift station has cut the amount of water being pumped from 4-6 million gallons a month to just 2 million gallons a month. The decrease is not only saving the city money by pumping less water, it will also mean the city will have to utilize irrigators less next summer to keep the pond levels down. 

• Heard a concern from Pro Ag concerning a large bill to hook up to water at its new chemical storage facility in the industrial park. The bill was approximately $42,000 to hook up to city utilities, which was far more than was anticipated. The city agreed to lower the hook up fees to the new ones recently passed by the city.

• Approved constructing a new sleeping quarters for members of the Henning Ambulance Service who are on call. With more members of the ambulance service living outside of the five minute response time, the hope was constructing the sleeping quarters would give people a place to go when they are on call but not responding to an emergency. The cost of the material was estimated to be $10,000 and will be located near the ambulance garage. The room will include a bed, dresser and a lamp. The ambulance service, which has responded to 375 calls already this year, has money in reserves to pay for the project.