Final budget not popular among city residents

The December straw vote for the budget was 3-2 favoring. But the two dissenters, Randy Bebee and Terry Giager have since rolled off the board, and the Jan. 31 final vote was 5-0. Nevertheless, among 10 residents who spoke during that meeting’s public comment, none favored the budget as it was passed.

Commissioner Brian Fisher crafted much of the final revision. He also gave budget presentations during work sessions in November of December. The total general operating budget for 2018 is $3,651,473. One controversial point was that the board is paying the city’s Downtown Development Authority $78,000 (earlier budget drafts paid twice that amount).

The reason is that in June the DDA could begin receiving rent money from the Department of Juvenile Justice building at the tune of $147,000 a month. But Mayor Jonathan Elmore says that money is not guaranteed, and that it might be another year before that rent starts coming in.

Also, almost all residents who spoke on Jan. 31 were against $188,000 getting pulled out of the restricted fund balance. That money will be used specifically for three projects: a Liveable Cities Initiative design for improving U.S. 278; a generator for city hall; a pickup truck for public works.

“What a lot of people don’t understand,” Elmore said, “is that [restricted fund] money is expressly for capital improvements. We are using the money exactly for it’s supposed to be used for.”