Live Oak, Wheatland budgets remain steady
Live Oak’s “status quo” $12.7 million budget has been approved by the City Council for 2018-19.
The budget isn’t significantly different than last year’s, other than two projects, according to the interim city manager. The budget proposes replacing an old sewer lift station and selling off excess land parcels, and acquiring land on the Highway 99 corridor with the money.
“We will be selling approximately $500,000 of land parcels that are surplus and we will be using that money to acquire land on the Highway 99 corridor,” said Joe Aguilar, interim city manager. That amounts to about 21 acres of land.
The city plans on using some of the land as parking lots. The city has been working to widen the highway and there has been concern about parking.
“We’re trying to get ahead of the curve,” Aguilar said.
The other big project that is budgeted is the replacement of the sewage lift station on P Street. The budget states that the current facility is around 50 years old and it is significantly under capacity. The project will cost $895,000. There will also be some small capital items throughout the budget for repairs and upgrades.
There are some smaller items within the budget, like the leasing of a new fire engine. According to Aguilar, the current engine is 26 years old and the new lease will cost $83,000 per year; the total cost of the fire engine will be $500,000.
The budget includes other things like park maintenance, such as replacing doors at Memorial Park, adding a shade structure to Soccer Park and catching up on repairs and maintenance, Aguilar said. “(It includes) just some minor upkeep that we’re doing.”
The budget was presented to the council Wednesday night. During the meeting, council members expressed their questions and an amendment to Aguilar.
Some council members stated that, in the future, they would like to see more maintenance done to Memorial Park due to the uneven ground and landscaping that could make it difficult for some people to enjoy the park. One member asked that, if there are some excess funds from the sale of the surplus land parcels, some of that money could be used to install some recreation areas in existing parks.
Wheatland officials submitted a proposed budget for 2018-19 earlier this month and will consider final adoption at the next City Council meeting June 26.
The budget isn’t significantly different from the 2017-18 budget. The general fund is seeing a $30,000 increase and expenses have about a $20,000 decrease, City Manager Jim Goodwin said.
“It’s a pretty status quo budget,” he said.
The revenue is estimated to equal about $2.2 million and the city is “expecting to be in the black by at least $38,000,” Goodwin said.
The budget will cover some street improvements that will total around $280,000 and the Street Maintenance Fund includes $15,000 to clean out the storm drain canal from Mcdevitt Toddler Park to the Highway 65 storm basin. There’s also a projection to replace a radar trailer for the police department, which would cost about $20,000. The budget report states that the city will need to address the collapsed Malone culvert, but the cost has not yet been determined.
The council did a preliminary review on the budget on June 12 and made a couple of recommendations for changes, which will be reviewed next Tuesday.
According to the report from the last council meeting, the staff recommended that a portion of the unreserved funds from the general fund go toward replacing police and public works vehicles in the future. The police department is also proposing an increase of staffing by .10 FTE to accommodate cross-training for their administrative assistant position.
The city hasn’t finalized everything for the next meeting, according to Goodwin. But he isn’t anticipating any significant changes.
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