Changes to city’s $50M budget plan add $60K
The mayor’s proposed $50 million budget for the coming year is expected to increase by approximately $60,000 to include additional funding for efforts such as traffic enforcement and community engagement.
During a meeting Tuesday, the Common Council’s Finance and Audit Committee endorsed a series of changes to the mayor’s proposed 2023 city budget. Those changes included adding an additional $33,913 to the police department’s overtime budget to allow for traffic enforcement activities, as well as $7,000 to the Communications and Community Engagement budget to pay for the cost of a potential city-wide mailer to be sent to residents and for live Spanish-language translation services during community meetings.
City Police Chief Egidio Tinti said the additional overtime for his department would allow for approximately 15 to 20 hours each week dedicated to traffic enforcement efforts.
“I would be using it in locations that have already been demonstrated to be accident-prone and where the complaints are coming from,” Tinti told aldermen.
Several aldermen said they felt the additional funding for traffic enforcement would be a good investment because speeding is a common complaint heard from constituents. Residents have also voiced concerns about pedestrian and bicycle safety, as well as motorists going through stop signs, aldermen said.
Additionally, the committee endorsed adding $538 to the Common Council’s budget to restore a page position. The page assists the council during its monthly meetings and was eliminated when the city temporarily suspended in-person gatherings due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Another $20,000 in expenses was offset by a grant in the same amount for the city’s Parks and Recreation Department.
Aldermen agreed to offset the additional expenses by increasing the amount of the city’s fund balance that will be appropriated to cover spending.
As a result, the Common Council on Tuesday will consider adopting a $50,156,158 city budget for the coming year, which increases spending by $3,434,499, or 7.35%, over the $46,721,659 budget adopted for 2022.
Mayor Steve Noble’s budget pro
posal totaled $50,094,707.
The tax levy, which is the amount to be raised by taxes, is proposed to decrease by $50,000, or 0.28%, from the current amount of $17,650,940 to $17,600,940.
The tax rates under the proposed budget would also decrease slightly, with the rate for homestead, or residential, properties dropping from $8.82 per $1,000 of assessed value to $8.81. The non-homestead, or commercial, tax rate would decrease from $14.14 per $1,000 of assessed value to $13.91.
The budget proposal anticipates the city will receive $18,955,000 in revenue from sales tax to help offset expenses. The 2022 budget called for $16,250,000 in sales tax revenue.
Additionally, the proposed budget calls for using $1,606,985 of the city’s unappropriated fund balance to offset expenses.
Separately, the committee endorsed a 2023 capital plan for the city totaling $3,535,000. The capital plan is paid for primarily through bonding and covers the cost of equipment and vehicles for various city departments.
Of the total capital plan, $50,000 was added by the Finance and Audit Committee to allow the city to purchase 10 solar-powered, speed limit feedback signs.