City Council approves budget for 2019

Finances remain tight with equipment, more manpower unfunded

The Lorain City Council passed a 2019 budget Dec. 22 in a special call meeting.

In a brief six-minute meeting on Dec. 22, the budget was passed with only Ward 2 Councilman Dennis Flores voting against it.

Lorain Mayor Chase Ritenauer did not attend the year-end session.

Speaking to The Morning Journal after the meetno ing, Lorain Auditor Karen

Shawver said there were changes to the budget passed Dec. 22 and discussed on Dec. 21.

She said while there’s a little extra in the budget for next year, things will still be tight for the city.

“The general fund budget, which is the funding for all the safety forces and the labor force that you can see and utilize, was about $800,000 more than 2018,” she said. “The original adopted budget was $28.8 million, and this year’s is $29.6 million, but we did make some amendments throughout the year so it’s only budgeted about $400,000 more than last year.”

Shawver said there hasn’t been an increase in revenue enough for the city to supply additional services or additional gear needed for the workforce.

“There was a plea from police Chief (Cel) Rivera and he said we need a lot of things,” she said. “Unfortunately we’re just in a situation until the revenue stream gets a little bit wider here in Lorain we have to live on this tight budget every year and just go with the basics.

“Hopefully next year will be a better year,” she continued.

The budget listed general fund revenues projected to be almost $29.7 million. Income tax expected to be more than $20 million is the city’s single largest source of revenue, according to the draft budget.

General fund expenses are projected to be about $29.6 million, leaving a carryover of $65,849, according to the draft budget.