’19 budget approved in NLR

Expenditures revised as council OKs pay raise for officers

A higher-than-expected North Little Rock general fund budget for 2019 gained quick approval from the City Council on Monday evening, with an additional $693,905 pushing up the total projected expenditures.

An increase in North Little Rock police officers’ pay, also approved by the council Monday, is the primary factor that added to the budget. The changes raised next year’s projected budget to $68,023,708, an increase of $1.44 million over this year’s general fund.

Council members voted 8-0 to increase the police salaries and then also unanimously voted for the revised budget without discussion.

During a budget workshop in early November, council members praised a draft budget that showed tight control of new expenditures by city departments, with a forecast increase at that time of $749,936 over the 2018 budget.

The increase in police salaries will cost the city $755,597, according to a revised list of expenditures by department. The city also will have an increase of $23,013 in workers’ compensation premiums.

Those budget additions since the council’s budget session in November are partly offset by a $68,394 reduction in the city’s share for Rock Region Metro transit services included among other minor subtractions from November’s draft budget.

During the summer, the City Council awarded pay raises for all employees that took effect in August, but uniformed police officers were excluded. As part of the police union contract with the city, uniformed police received raises at the beginning of 2018 and will again at the beginning of 2019. No other raises are included in the 2019 budget.

The council also approved, 8-0, the $97.69 million budget for the North Little Rock Electric Department that includes $93 million in revenue from the sale of electricity. The utility’s budget for 2018 is $94.55 million, with $89 million budgeted as revenue for electricity sales.

North Little Rock Electric’s budget is separate from the city’s general fund, though the utility annually transfers $12 million to the city’s general fund.