The delicate balancing act of creating a budget for the city of Chadron has begun, and council members offered direction to city staff in a special workshop Thursday night.
The council weighed in on various items in the budget and proposed changes of their own.
“The departments have been very conservative in their budgets,” said city manager Wayne Anderson. While it is possible the city will be able to decrease the mill levy and ask for fewer tax dollars, both Anderson and public works director Milo Rust, said the council must balance tax relief against the needs of the city to achieve progress on certain projects.
“There is a lot of infrastructure still out there,” Rust said. “I agree with what you’re saying about reducing it, but there are also needs.”
Councilman and vice mayor Levi Grant said people in the community are hurting and making do with less. At some point, he said, they will ask themselves, “How long do I keep struggling along or do I just cash it in and leave?”
Still, Mayor Karin Fischer said, the city has been frugal, holding the mill levy steady for nine years with only one minor increase.
As the council went through the draft budget line by line, they found several items for further discussion.
One of the first was Grant’s proposal to increase the wages paid to the city council members. Currently $6,400 a year, Grant said the wages are not sufficient for a council member who is faced with additional cell phone minutes and travel expenses.
“Whether I’m here or not, I think (the salary) needs to be upped. … I know it’s a touchy subject when we say cut, cut, cut,” he said. Grant is up for re-election in November.
The salaries have not been increased for at least two decades, Anderson said, but at least one council member voiced disapproval of the idea.
“I don’t like it,” said John Gamby. “I don’t know that we deserve it.”
Extensive discussion also ensued on funding for economic development. The city currently contributes $30,000 to Nebraska Northwest Development Corporation for economic development. Grant said he would like to see the city hire a part time economic developer of its own.
“(NNDC) is a wonderful board to an extent,” he said. However, executive director Deb Cottier is busy and the corporation covers a region larger than just Chadron. Hiring an economic developer for the city might provide a fresh perspective and would offer a resource dedicated solely to the city.
Gamby disagreed with the idea, saying that if everyone believes NNDC is doing a good job there is no reason to make any changes. Another idea proposed was to increase the funding to NNDC to $40,000 and stipulate that the additional funds be dedicated to Chadron; Grant was not in favor of that idea, preferring to have the city hire someone on its own.
Anderson proposed adding two items to the budget that met with initial approval by the council – an emergency volunteer center and a social media platform.
The emergency volunteer center – at the cost of $8,000 – would include computers and a tagging system that would allow the city or other area governmental agencies to process large groups of volunteers in the event of a natural disaster. The “center” would be mobile – a collection of boxes housing the computer and other equipment – that could be set up in “whatever building is left standing.”
The program would also allow for the city to track employees’ time spent on disaster response, a function that would streamline the process for being reimbursed from state and federal emergency management agencies, said chief financial officer Lois Chisek.
The social media platform software, estimated to cost $4,500, will operate the city’s social media sites and allow the city to interact with the public through various social media platforms and generate reports for council members on public input garnered through those sites.
The council came to a general consensus on increasing the contribution to a fund meant to purchase a new pumper truck for the fire department in 2019. The truck will cost approximately $400,000. The city is currently contributing $30,000 a year toward the purchase, but Anderson expressed concern that the city will have to come up with a large amount in 2019 if it does not start setting more aside. Mayor Fischer proposed increasing the contribution to $40,000, but Grant opposed the idea.
“We’ve got people out there hurting. We better watch what we do,” he said.
For the second draft of the budget, the council reached a consensus on a $35,000 contribution to the fund.
Other major projects in the future also need funds set aside. Water department superintendent Tom Menke said 45 percent of the city’s water meters are nearing their life expectancy of 20 years and need to be replaced. The water plant will also need a major renovation in 2020, and the wastewater plant is scheduled for renovations in 2029. The first draft of the budget proposes setting aside $100,000 a year for those two projects combined.
All of the proposals will continue to be discussed and adjusted as the budget process continues.
Comments are closed.