As revenue increases, so do expenses and the city budget reflects that. The budget presented to City Council members is for $8,983,845 for 2018, up from $7,565,665 in 2017.
City officials -- the mayor, department heads and council members -- met briefly in a Council meeting, then a Committee of the Whole, on Tuesday, Nov. 7. The budgets are expected to be presented at the regular City Council meeting Tuesday, Nov. 21.
"Our numbers in our budgets, they're numbers," Mayor Jackie Crabtree reminded city officials. "If we don't have it coming in, then we don't have it to spend. This is just a base point. We try to keep everything down as much as we can... the department heads understand that. If the money is not coming in, we can't spend it."
The city general budget line items include $3,789,790 in City General; $178,725 City Parks; $956,000 Fire Department; $300,000 in impact fees; $61,830 Library; $792,500 Street Department; and $2,602,000 Water/Sewer Department.
Other budget line items include: $1,350,350 Police; $98,500 Court; $20,150 Dog; $75,590 Library.
"There has been so much growth in building and electric permits," Sandy Button, city clerk, said, "so much growth has been phenomenal... also in the court -- there are more people, more court fines and county sales tax."
The line item for impact fees increased from $150,000 to $300,000, reflected the increase in construction in town.
Button explained there are two different budgets for the library -- one under city general that pays salaries and the other under the library.
Librarian Megan Bryant said there are two paid employees and one who "floats to fill in." She said she is "still having problems with the building and plumbing."
"We got by with what we have in addition to almost $8,000 in grants we've found. We're always working diligently on that," she said, adding that there are many volunteers especially Walmart employees earning VIP hours. "We have a lot of growth... We have a lot of events and classes and have tapped into the home-school community."
Alex Wright, assistant librarian, told the council the library averages 30 patrons a day.
Button, speaking on the parks as there was no one from the Parks Commission present, said the commission stayed within their budget last year and are working hard to get a grant for a splash pad. She said there is money in the savings account to match grant money to build the splash pad.
"I went down to Jacksonville a couple of weeks ago," Crabtree said, "to present it (the grant request)... the thing that is in our favor is that the last time we had a grant for the park was 1976."
Plans, according to Crabtree, are to build a splash pad near the restroom building to take advantage of existing plumbing.
City Council meets at 7 p.m. the third Tuesday of the month in City Hall.
General News on 11/15/2017