Proposed city budget shows big increases

It’s on to the Finance Committee as the McMinnville Board of Mayor and Aldermen plan the municipality’s upcoming fiscal year. In the last week, each committee has heard all the budget requests, except for the Water and Sewer Department, and sent them on for consideration.

McMinnville Police Department and McMinnville Fire Department budgets held the biggest surprise with the largest increase from the last fiscal year.

This year’s budget request by the police department is $2,292,812 compared to last year’s budget at $1,801,926.

The biggest contributors to the increase are the request for computer equipment at $106,000, six new vehicles at $138,000, other machinery and equipment at $89,000 and communication equipment $35,284.

Not in the budget but requested is $160,000 for two new employees, training and equipment. This brings the asked-for budget to $2,452,812.

This year’s budget request by the fire department is $2,064,250 compared to last year’s budget at $1,269,895.

The biggest contributor to the increase is the request for a new fire engine totaling $700,000 with a minimal contributor of $22,000 for one new car.

McMinnville Parks and Recreation requested $1,381,772, a reduction of $31,256. Noticeably absent from the budget was anything for the new geothermal system talked about in the last few months.

Although he agrees the system is a good one, city administrator David Rutherford questions such an expenditure at this time.

‘I’m raising the question, for discussion purposes, if we should spend $700,000 to put in a geothermal system when we’ve got a building that needs painting and other things that need repairs,’ said Rutherford. ‘We can look at conventional equipment with energy savings. The estimate we received from McMinnville Electric was about half that.’

The Parks and Recreation Committee added $120,000 to the budget.

That addition will either go to adding a traditional heating and air system or a modern geothermal system once the decision has been made.

Except for the two new police officers, training and their equipment sought by the police department, and the heating and cooling system for parks and recreation, the remaining budget balance for June 30, 2008 is $860,680.

Finance will now have the job of cutting the departmental budgets down to the bare bones before sending their recommendation to the full board. The Finance Committee is expected to begin this process June 12.

The remaining budget requests:

‘ Public Works $572,154, a $34,322 increase;

‘ Urban Forestry $243,295, a $30,166 increase;

‘ Planning and Zoning $279,210, a $15,402 increase;

‘ Vehicle Maintenance $170,255, a $5,553 increase;

‘ Animal Control $52,920, a $2,980 increase;

‘ Drug Fund $43,900, a $89,431 decrease;

‘ Debt Service Fund $702,515, a $2,100 decrease;

‘ Street Aid $447,013, a $27,232 increase;

‘ Solid Waste Collection and Disposal $1,181,532, a $10,238 increase;

‘ Water Purification and Distribution $1,673,657, a $294,467 increase;

‘ Wastewater Collection and Treatment $4,463,170 a $290,629 increase.