Lincoln City Council approves 2020 amended budget

LINCOLN — The city received more revenue than projected for the general fund in 2020, and spent less money than it budgeted, according to the reconciled budget approved by City Council last week.

The 2020 reconciled and amended budget, which provides actual revenue and actual expenses for the year, shows that the city projected to receive $470,220 in revenue for the general fund. Instead, it took in $531,295, an almost 13% increase.

The city budgeted $413,447 in expenses for the general fund and had $396,952 in actual expenses for the year, according to the amended budget.

The city had a net gain of $134,342 for the general fund.

The city received $421,772 in tax revenue for 2020 for the general fund, compared to a budget of $392,875. Other increases in revenue came from permit fees and building inspections.

For other city budgets, the library ended 2020 with a net income of $34,005. It budgeted $227,665 in expenses. Actual expenses were $215,532.

The police department had $495,566 in income and $480,675 in expenses for net income of almost $14,000.

For sanitation, the amended budget shows $232,331 in income and $204,165 in expenses for a net profit of more than $28,000.

The street department reported $49,474 in revenue in 2020, with $34,624 in expenses, a net income of $14,850.

The reconciled budget for the Water Department shows the city projected to receive $2,089,900 in receipts. Actual revenue was $2,181,535. Revenue was up in collections by about $33,000 and also in water connections by almost $30,000.

For expenses in the Water Department, the city budgeted to spend $2,033,200. Actual expenses were $2,100,366 for a net income of more than $81,000 for the year.

The city’s budget for its 1% sales tax capital improvements fund shows the city received $324,983 in revenue with actual expenses of $282,338. Expenses in 2020 included $47,646 for the trash truck payment, $41,441 for a new police vehicle, $66,946 for South Park playground equipment, $14,730 for the Community Building roof and $14,583 to Garver engineering firm for work on the city’s Unified Development Code.

In other action, the council, after a lot of discussion, tabled an ordinance to amend the Lincoln Unified Development Code for off-street parking.

The ordinance added one sentence to the section Parking Space and Driveway Design that would allow residents to add an extra parking space that could either be hard surface or gravel.

Two council members, Johnny Stowers and Terry Bryson, said they thought the wording was too vague.

“The citizens want the city cleaned up,” Stowers said. “The way this is worded, I guarantee you’ll have people go in there and gravel their front yard and park 50 cars in the front yard.”

Mayor Doug Hutchens said he believed the section as originally written was too restrictive for the citizens of Lincoln and economically unreasonable.

Council member Michelle Davis suggested limiting the size of a gravel parking space and requiring it to be adjacent to the driveway.

This suggestion was discussed and the council members came up with a wording they thought they could go with:

• Provided however, residential parking spaces and drives in excess of those required by (Section) 4.16.5 A(1.), below, may be either hard surface or gravel. No gravel parking space or drive or combination of parking spaces or drives may exceed ten (10) feet in width in front of the front building line, and no gravel drive or parking space may be adjacent to the street.

The council will consider the change at its March 16 meeting.

In other action, the board appointed Deanna O’Brien to the Lincoln Planning Commission. Hutchens said O’Brien is in real estate and will bring that background and knowledge to the commission.

Hutchens said David McBride has indicated an interest in the Ward 4, Position 1 vacancy on the council. Archie Ackley ran unopposed for the position in November, was elected and then decided not to serve. Under state law, Doyle Dixon, who did not run for re-election, would continue as a council member unless he resigned. Dixon has told Hutchens he does not want to serve.

Hutchens said Dixon will have to officially resign and then McBride, who lives in Ward 4, can be appointed to the council. Hutchens said he would like to do that at the March meeting.

In other news, Rhonda Hulse, city business manager, said water department employees were not able to read all water meters this month because of the two winter storms and issues related to covid. The city will have to estimate water usage on some of the bills. Hulse said those bills with an estimated fee will have an “E” on them.

A bill is estimated by looking at a customer’s usage over the past 12 months, Hulse said. Those estimated bills will be corrected with actual usage in next month’s invoice, she said.