City officials begin wrangling with nearly $18M budget
City officials have begun combing through an estimated $17.9 million budget that includes funding for construction on Main Street and a general fund budget of about $8.8 million.
Current estimates are the Main Street McMinnville economic development project will be one of the city’s big-ticket items this year, although bids on that project have not been formally approved. Other major expenditures are a proposed $160,000 roof repair at the Civic Center and $70,000 in building improvements there.
Main Street construction would be paid for by a bond fund, which was estimated at almost $3.8 million. Other proposed budget figures are a drug fund of roughly $120,000, solid waste at about $1 million, street aid at about $450,000, and water and sewer at roughly $3.8 million in addition to the general fund.
The estimated $8.8 million general fund supports departments like police, fire, codes, the city garage, cemeteries, animal control, urban forestry and general government and administration.
City employees may be seeing a cost-of-living increase this year, although exact figures have not been released.
Officials have also been discussing the impact of gasoline prices this year and brought that issue to light during a Finance Committee meeting where some officials asked department heads to revise their budgets to reflect higher prices.
“It’s trying to guess whether gas prices are going to stabilize and go back down or even go back up, so everybody is trying to come up with figures that will be close,” Mayor Royce Davenport said, adding gas prices would impact the police department and public works more than other departments.
Davenport said this week he does not foresee a tax increase at this point in the budgetary cycle. And he noted the city’s tax rate is expected to decrease to coincide with property assessments that increased.
Davenport said the city has been told by state officials the tax rate would be set at $1.48. Last year’s property tax was decreased by city officials to $1.60 from $1.94 after citizens approved a local sales tax increase in September. And according to a preliminary budget released June 8, city officials are estimating about $1.5 million in local option tax revenue this year, which is more than double what was estimated around this time last year.
Because not every committee has met to discuss respective departmental budgets, officials are always careful to note expectations for the fiscal year 2004-2005 budget may change over the next few weeks. The city’s fiscal year ends June 30.