Noel Council OKs 2016 Budget

The Noel City Council briefly met Dec. 22 to approve the 2016 budget.

In an 11th-hour decision, the council approved a 5 percent raise for a Street Department employee, which had been denied during a previous meeting. Street Superintendent Christina Willis pleaded with council members for the raise for her employee, who saved the city $8,000 on one particular project. She argued the employee would only receive $20 per paycheck or less and was very deserving because of his wide range of skills. She also assured the council the employee would leave if he did not receive a pay increase.

The council passed a budget that did not include some proposals that proved controversial with department heads. The original proposed budget eliminated the animal control, nuisance and abatement department. It also reduced the amount of the city’s contribution to employee health care from 100 percent to 66 percent. These measures were taken by the budget committee to balance the budget and, at the same time, add a fourth police officer to the budget. The proposals drew sharp criticism from department heads, causing the committee to take the budget back to the drawing board.

At a subsequent budget meeting, City Marshal Paul Gardner withdrew his request for a fourth officer. He also said he could suggest that officers increase their number of traffic contacts, which might increase court revenues enough to make up for the rest of the shortfall in the budget. With these measures in place, the council looked at the budget a final time before passing it on Dec. 22.