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City finds balance with budget

Directors make final cuts to keep raises



Going into their final meeting with department heads, the City of Decatur budget committee told the group they were $562,000 short in the planning for the 2022/23 financial plan.

With the first payment of $1.234 million on the near $34 million bond package coming due and needing to trim expenses, Mayor pro tem Melinda Reeves said they asked the department heads to make additional cuts.

Monday after the Finance Director Ana Canada presented a proposed budgets of $14.643 million for the general fund, $6.671 million for the utility fund and $2.057 million for debt service, Reeves acknowledged the work of the city staff.

“It was a much more arduous project than in years past because of the first bond payment,” Reeves said. “It required an extra meeting and we discussed it as a group. It was best to be totally up front about where we are and called them back in and be totally transparent.

“When we called them back in, we said this will either mean giving up a 3 percent raise or going back into their budgets and cutting an additional 5 percent. They absolutely wanted to take care of it in the budget and they all did. It was just an incredible process.”

To cover the first bond payment of the spring 2022 certificates of obligation for a series of capital improvements, including a new water tower, sewer and water improvements, park improvements and building a new police station, and general fund expenses, the city is proposing a total tax rate of 64.5258 cents per $100 valuation. Of the proposed rate 44.3658 cents is for maintenance and operations and 20.16 cents for debt service.

The proposed rate is an increase of slightly more than 6 cents. The current rate is 58.1692 cents. The debt service rate is up from 9.1 cents to cover the bond payments.

The city is expected to bring in $4.609 million in property taxes with its tax roll growing to $1.128 billion. The city is projecting sales taxes at $4.245 million.

Overall, the city expecting an $825,289 growth in general fund revenue.

The city’s expenses are expected to grow by $1 million. The city will give employees a 3 percent raise and will be adding a dispatcher, police officer, firefighter and positions in park maintenance and planning. The city is also planning to pay a portion, $35,000, for a shared hazardous mitigation grant writing position with Wise County. County Judge J.D. Clark plans to present a proposal for the role to county commissioners next week. The city is looking to get the minimum pay for staff at $18 per hour and $15 for part-time help.

Reeves said the process to get to the proposed budget started with a $2.2 million deficit before getting to the final round of cuts.

“No one feels they sacrificed too much,” Reeves said. “The administration took the biggest cuts with the assistant city manager and other positions. But the police made a sacrifice with the vehicle lease. The conference center there were some remodeling we couldn’t do and Kevin [Holzbog] at the EDC is finding ways to help with money. It was truly a team effort to balance the budget.”

City Manager Nate Mara said the city could look at adding some of the items cut during the budget process at midyear if revenues and expenses allow.

“We’re conservative with our projections,” Mara said. “We have our goals list for the midyear to take care of.”

The city will hold public hearings on the tax rate and budget Aug. 22 and Sept. 12 at city hall.

In other business, the council approved several sign variances for signage at the new CEFCO service station on U.S. 380. The council also approved sign variances at Walmart and Candlewood Suites.

The council also named Greg Hall as the acting city manager in Mara’s absence.

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