City budget approved by council

Despite obstacles with inflation and high fuel prices, the budget for this fiscal year versus last fiscal year remains about the same for each respective department.

“The final budget we are proposing for public works, for example, is very comparable dollar-wise with the budget for last year,” said City Council President Drew Dawson. “Everybody’s budget is – I would say – fairly comparable to last year.”

Dawson said this year’s budgeting process has been a smooth one, thanks largely to City Clerk Ellen Harne.

“[Harne] spends a lot of time keeping expenditures under control,” Dawson said, “so by the time we get to budget season there really are no surprises. There were no major reductions in anybody’s budget. We have it down to a working template of what’s required of the department heads. Everyone is at a consistent level. ”

“We got the budget ironed out to what projects we want to undertake and what we can allocate,” Harne added. “We’ve stayed fairly consistent over the past couple of years.”

The clerk and council are also staying fairly consistent with the general fund.

“Last year we budgeted $659,054 in the general fund,” Harne said, “and the budget presented to the council this year was for $610,218.”

Dawson said he’s also pleased with the communication across the board to make the budget work for each respective entity.

“I think we’ve been blessed,” he said. “Thanks to the stewardship of [Harne], department heads, Mayor Rusty Giulio and others, we’ve expended 92 percent of our budget last year in the general fund. Mayor Giulio and the City Council are always actively involved with preparing the budget – from start to finish. They know what is included and how the budget process works. In cooperation with [Harne], they also do a fantastic job of monitoring the budget every month.” 

The general fund is a little smaller this year, Harne said, which largely is a result of departments being more frugal.

“Our department heads did a really good job sharpening their pencils this year,” Taylor said. “They were able to make cuts without actually reducing the services they provide.”

Having a smaller general fund also allows the city to have an adequate cash reserve of 45.86%, or $279,860.

“This is what the city operates on between July 1 and the end of December when we collect the large tax allocation amounts from the county,” Harne said during the meeting.

Maintaining a reasonable cash reserve, Dawson told the Monitor,  is a prudent financial maneuver for the city government, “There should be a sufficient amount for unanticipated expenses and to operate the city during the lull in cash payments, but not so much that the city is hoarding money at taxpayers’ expense.  We are prohibited by law from accumulating an unreasonable amount of money in cash reserves.” 

The Council, Dawson said, has put a lot of time into constructing the budget, meeting for several budget workshops, and working with Harne to make such determinations. Following these workshops, Harne and the council decided – because of the increase in cost of fuel and oil prices – that city departments are “not going to undertake any road construction projects.” 

Harne said increases in the cost of fuel and oil were built into spending estimates across the budget. For roads and streets, for example, the current fuel budget for fiscal year 2021-2022 is $4,000, current expenditures are $5,769 and there is a proposed fiscal year 2022-2023 budget of $8,000.

Moving forward, Dawson and Harne agree they want to take a more proactive approach toward the budget.

“One thing we are asking department heads is to look ahead and project out, particularly for capital expenditures and major projects over a 5 year period so we can anticipate the costs,” Dawson said. 

Currently there is one major project taking place, as the city is currently in the process of replacing their water system. 

“This is certainly the biggest single project we are anticipating, and a really important one, too, to beef up our water system,” said Dawson. “We are looking at updating our system due to potential groundwater influence and as a result of projected growth in the area.”

In order to afford such an undertaking the city has received funding from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). 

“We have applied for and received a minimum application ARPA Grant for $281,644 through the state Department of Natural Resources and Conservation,” said Harne. “We received that grant and applied for a more competitive ARPA grant for $523,074.” In order to get phase one of the water project completed, Harne said the city also applied for a USDA loan “for a little over $181,000.”

All in all, Dawson said there are little changes to the budget this year versus last year. The same goes for mills.

“Our mills over the past five years haven’t changed drastically,” said Harne. “State law sets the amount of mills we can mill for. It’s based on property values. We always levy for the max we can levy, which, in this case, is not an increase over what we have done.”

According to Dawson, the maximum the city can levy is roughly 184.26 mills (which includes five for the swimming pool, a forever mill levy voters voted on in 2006), for a total of $235,590.

Those interested in learning more about the budget are encouraged to contact Harne in the city office at (406) 225-3381 or come to a city council meeting the third Monday of each month at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall.