Sean C. Morgan
The Sweet Home City Council adopted a $22 million city budget for 2012-13 following a public hearing during its regular meeting on June 26.
The budget including a budgeted ending fund balance and cash carryover of $781,000.
Voting unanimously were Marybeth Angulo, Mayor Craig Fentiman, Jim Gourley, Mike Hall, Greg Mahler and Scott McKee Jr. Ron Rodgers was absent.
Budget Committee member Dave Holley told the council that he was in favor of the budget as whole, but did not favor certain elements.
He opposed the elimination of the council’s grant program, he said. The program has helped worthy causes in the past. He also didn’t like the fact that the Police Department remained down a police officer and a dispatcher, a budget area the city needs to protect.
He still isn’t sold on a proposed water filling station, budgeted at $130,000, he said, and he cannot “for the life of me” figure out how it is a hazard mitigation issue.
He noted that it is not a good time to freeze non-represented employee wages, a proposal discussed by the Budget Committee and the City Council previously.
At the same time, the city cannot sustain the path it is on, with the rising cost of benefits, said Holley, a former council member and mayor himself.
Next year, Holley said, he would like to see the council start the budget process sooner, with a workshop two or three months beforehand to give the council more of a say in the budget and allow councilors to get to know the budget better – before it goes through deliberations at the Budget Committee level.
“I think it’s time to move on, adopt the budget and keep the things we discussed in mind next year,” Holley said.
McKee said it was time to move ahead.
“I’m voting yes on the budget because we need one to operate,” McKee said. “I still feel adamantly about the fact we don’t need to give merit raises (for non-represented employees) this year.”
Angulo agreed.
After no further discussion, the council adopted the budget, with a tax rate of $7.22 per $1,000 in assessed valuation for local option levies and $1.42 per $1,000 in they city’s permanent rate.
In other business, the council:
n Passed a resolution declaring the city’s election to receive shared state revenue.
n Passed a resolution certifying that the city provides four or more services in order to receive state revenues.
n Authorized the transfer of contingency funds from the water and wastewater treatment plant funds to various lines within the materials and services and capital outlay line items in the 2011-12 budget. Expenditures were higher than anticipated. The transfers include $10,000 to professional services in the wastewater plant fund, $5,000 to equipment and machinery in the wastewater plant fund and $10,000 to professional services in the water plant fund.
n Set an interest rate of 10 percent on unpaid systems development charge balances. The interest rate had not been set by resolution, permitting the city to charge only 9 percent under state law.
Charges on current contracts is approximately $1,090 per year for all contracts combined.