MOUNT VERNON — City Council reached a general agreement on a balanced 2008 budget on Tuesday that includes a number of public improvement projects, but the budget will not officially be adopted until council votes to approve it.
Council and the administration met for their annual budget work sessions in City Hall, and settled on a $33,833,162 budget for the coming year. City Auditor Terry Scott said last year’s budget was $37,330,620.
This year’s budget is smaller than last year’s due in large part to the number of large projects in 2007. Those projects included the construction of the water park on Sychar Road, the extension of city water along Harcourt Road and major upgrades at the city wastewater plant.
After the meeting, Scott said that despite the bleak economic outlook for the U.S. economy, the city is in a relatively stable financial situation compared to recent years.
“We’ve been able to continue to provide services and we’ll be able to fund a number of capital improvement projects,” he said. “This shows that council and the administration is trying to live within its means.”
Most of the work session centered on the capital improvements budget. Part of the overall budget, the capital improvements budget lists proposed public projects such as street paving, improvements to public buildings and new equipment for city departments.
Council discussed departmental requests and debated some of them, but moved toward balancing the overall budget by trimming the total requested — $3,024,087 — to $2,155,758.
Projects in the 2008 budget include $838,000 to convert South Gay Street from brick to asphalt. The project is estimated to cost about $1.3 million. The administration expects to finance the remainder through a grant and a low-interest loan from the state.
Council also agreed to follow Mayor Richard Mavis’ suggestion to set aside $175,000 to rebuild Curtis Street, from Main Street to Mulberry Street. The mayor said the administration feels that of all the brick streets in the city, this is the one most in need of repair. He added that he doesn’t deny others are also in need of repair.
Other capital improvement requests council agreed to fund include $168,000 for a new traffic light at the intersection of Newark Road (Ohio 13) and Blackjack Road, $200,000 for a new street department garage, $380,000 for street paving, $30,000 for improvements to the city’s new water park on Sychar Road and $28,935 to go toward a drainage improvement project along Vine Street and South Main Street.
Council also agreed to appropriate $30,000 to extend the fence on the east end of Hiawatha Park to make room for additional green space and to install new concrete areas.
The proposed equipment purchases from the police, fire, parks and street departments included a number of requests for new vehicles. Council will fund a $42,000 request from the street department for a special “arm” mower used in areas difficult to mow, such as areas of a dike or on the other side of fences, as well as $45,000 for a small, used grader for grading in alleys. Council also agreed to appropriate $5,000 for a plate compactor, which will be used for the city brick repair pilot program that will get under way this summer.
After discussion was concluded on the capital improvements budget, council had shaved off more than enough to balance the overall budget, with $75,000 left over. Some council members thought the money should go toward street paving, some thought it should be kept in reserve for unexpected costs that might arise. The suggestion was also made that the money be put in a miscellaneous category and council members could vote to use it for street paving if they saw fit.
Council reached a consensus and agreed to set aside the money to build a rest room for Foundation Par. Council will have to vote in order to use the money for that purpose.
Council then went through all 40 pages of the 2008 appropriations which, in addition to the capital improvement fund, consists of every fund and line account in the budget. Most of the individual funds, such as water and wastewater funds, attracted little in the way of discussion. One section of the budget that did generate discussion was the one providing funding for the operation of the water park.
Council President John Booth and Councilman Bruce Hawkins expressed concerns about the high cost of operating the pool. Booth referred to operating costs and the costs of the capital improvements and said that although he appreciates the mayor’s past efforts to make the water park a reality, the high operating costs and the large debt payments the city will have to pay this year must be addressed.
According to Scott, the debt payment for the water park is about $230,000 in 2008.
Mavis said he and other city officials will address these concerns and plan to take the necessary steps to cut costs and, at the same time, make improvements and better the experience of visitors. He said a possible source of new revenue could come by allowing businesses to rent the facility. He said plans are under way to change the structure of the water park administrative personnel and alter the number of general water park staff to save money, while maintaining the necessary number of employees and supplies.
Councilman Burt Hanson said he doesn’t see how the city can avoid raising overall pool rates by at least 10 percent.
Another section of the budget that met with criticism by some council members was the parking fund, which included $13,000 to pay the city’s part-time parking attendent, who was hired to enforce the two-hour parking limit in certain areas of the downtown.
Councilman Chuck Dice said he is in favor of employing a parking attendant as long as the amount of money generated through fines was sufficient to pay for the expenses associated with having the attendant.
The attendant came on board in October 2007. Scott said fines in 2007 added up to about $1,600.
Councilman John Fair said the matter will come before council at the end of March, at which time members will decide whether or not to make the position permanent. He said he hopes to get real input and solutions to the city’s downtown parking concerns, not merely criticisms.
Mavis pointed out the engineering fund included an appropriation of $75,000 for director of engineering, a position that has not been funded for a number of years. He said he would like to have three members of council sit on the interviews for the final candidates for the position.
Scott said the city paid Richland Engineering of Mansfield about $40,000 in 2007 to have an engineer from the firm visit the city once a week to serve as the city engineer.
Mavis said this cost will vanish once the city gets its own engineer on board. Hawkins said he thinks a $75,000 a year is too low to attract a quality engineer and that the salary should be higher.
Council members generally agreed city official need to bring an engineer on board.
Scott will make necessary changes to the budget and present the revised version to council for consideration at its regular meeting on Monday.