DES MOINES, Iowa — The city of Des Moines is bracing for an extremely difficult financial year.
Because of rising costs and limits on property tax growth, the city council must trim the budget by more than $17 million. That is a 9% cut to the annual budget.

Des Moines Mayor Connie Boesen said, “It’s a difficult time, nobody wants to do any of this. This is not something you want. You want to be able to, like I said, offer the services and the best amenities that you can in a city.”

Nearly all amenities are set to take a hit. Take a look at a chart of some of the proposed cuts.

Police, libraries, parks, and neighborhood services will all see smaller budgets.

Mayor Boesen says the financial challenge is something all cities will face. “I think you’ll find that every city within the metro area, I haven’t talked to one that hasn’t had some type of whether they have a shortfall or whether they’re having to trim their budget, maybe not cut to the same degree, but they’re not, you know, make, maybe making the purchase of the fire truck, or they’re holding off on different things.”

Additional specifics will come on February 5th when City Manager Scott Sanders releases his full budget proposal.