MASON CITY, Iowa - The city council held a work session Thursday to discuss the city's nearly $87 million operating budget.

The operating budget shows how the city will be spending its money during the next fiscal year.  It includes everything from staff salaries, to road construction projects.

Most city departments had plenty of cash in reserve, but the River City is still showing some debt.  Much of it is related to the River City Renaissance project.

City Administrator Aaron Burnett says over the next few years, the debt will paid down.

“It takes time for those property taxes and some of those revenues to start to kick in. So at this point we've got a lot of that that's actually falling upon the taxes, but as we go forward we'll see those being paid through reinvestment district, through tax increment financing and those formulas will start to kick in,” said Burnett.

Mason City residents will see a slight tax increase on their properties, to the tune 1.3%.