JAMESTOWN, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) – The City of Jamestown held their first readings of the proposed 2020 budget Monday evening.

The proposal includes raising the City Sales Tax to 2.5% from 2.0%, which will generate approximately $600,000 to the city annually. Jamestown Mayor Dwaine Heinrich thanked all those involved for what he described as a “difficult process.”

Heinrich says no one is really happy with some of the decisions, but the city had to face “reality.”

The city also introduced the stormwater utility fee earlier this year, which will generate around $300,000 in revenue to be transferred to the general fund. The fee has not yet been finalized by the council.

Heinrich earlier set the goal of replenishing city reserves to about $2 million after the general fund started 2019 with less than $1 million.