Council met with city hall staff Tuesday, Nov. 12, to go over the city’s capital budget plan for the next five years. Made up of what appears to be a wish list, the budget contains just about everything the different departments at city hall would like to address.
The list is extensive and includes items such as replacing some furniture and carpeting at city hall, getting a generator to power the community center in the event of a power outage so that it can become an emergency shelter, and replacing the beaten, over-used emergency vehicles in the city’s fleet.
Hopefully, council will view the list not as a done deal and will decide to forego many of the wish-listed items so that it will not have to borrow money to provide key city services.
There was a suggestion by city manager, Tanisha Briley, and finance director, Tom Raguz to meet the 2014-2018 budget. The idea is to alter the debt service levy amount (if I understand it correctly, is a tax we pay), so more tax money can be redirected into the general fund. In the mean time, the city would borrow about $350,000 using a 15-year bond to cover the debt service requirements.
Thankfully, Dennis Wilcox, Jason Stein, and Cheryl Stephens voiced reservations about borrowing to cover a 0.5 mill level that Briley and Raguz requested. Stein pointed out that this was exactly the same thing done this time last year, and here the city was back doing it again without that plan making any budget improvements. At the end of the meeting, council and staff agreed to shift 0.35 mills from the debt service levy to the general fund so as not to put the city in danger of being unable to meet its debt repayment requirements.
Briley did stress that staff at city hall has been cut to the bone as it is and by not agreeing to the bond, the city would have to eliminate more staff. Overall, the budget plan, as I understood it, showed the city will face a $650,000 shortfall for 2014.
I am awaiting access to the actual numbers discussed during this meeting, but many items sounded necessary, such as roof replacements and emergency vehicles. However, I do think many items, because of the economic hardships facing the city and its residents, could be placed on hold after this 5-year plan.