Fort Dodge officials crafting the 2019-2020 city budget don’t know how Gov. Kim Reynolds and the Legislature will address a major source of revenue for local governments.

In 2013, when then-Gov. Terry Branstad and the lawmakers created a commercial property tax cut, they included money to reimburse cities, counties and school districts for the revenue they would have otherwise collected on commercial properties. That money, commonly called backfill, may be threatened because legislators talked this year about limiting or even eliminating it.

Fort Dodge receives $600,000 in backfill money, Jeff Nemmers, the city clerk and finance director, said Monday.

“It is a significant amount,” he said.

Nemmers said $300,000 of backfill money goes into the general fund, which pays for police and fire protection and many other government functions. The other $300,000 is spread among various other funds.

The Legislature will convene on Jan. 14. The city is required to have its budget done by mid-March, which means that local officials may not know what the lawmakers will do regarding the backfill money before the spending plan has to be completed.

The talk about the backfill money occurred as the City Council continued to review proposed spending plans for the next fiscal year during a budget workshop.

One of the biggest budget proposals reviewed Monday was for the storm water utility. It totals $1,188,671.

That’s up from the $1,475,353 current budget.

One of the biggest increases in the storm water utility budget totals $24,000 and is for paying U.S. Water Utility Group to operate the pump stations near the city’s storm water retention basins. That company, which runs the John W. Pray Water Facility and the wastewater treatment plant, has been operating those pump stations, but the city had been paying for that service out of the sanitary sewer budget.

The proposed budget for solid waste collection is $1,143,890.

That’s up from the current $994,240.

The proposal includes $286,194.59 for a new truck with mechanical arms on both sides for lifting and emptying garbage and recycling containers. The City Council approved the purchase of the truck on Nov. 26. It will be delivered in about 14 months.

These additional proposed budgets were reviewed Monday with little discussion:

• Tax increment financing — $2,765,063, up from $2,104,204;

• Business affairs and community growth — $263,950, up from $256,050;

• Inspections — $132,350, up from $90,350;

• Rental housing inspections — $121,400, up from $117,200;

• Self-Supported Municipal Improvement District — $84,584, down from $84,610.