City budget gets nod; raises for fire, police OK’d
The 2017-18 budget totals
"It is a responsible budget with no tax increases," said Mayor
Of the roughly
Water and sewer rates will rise by 2 percent in 2017-18 to adjust for inflation and ensure adequate funding for future capital projects. Water base rates increase from
Garbage collection rates will remain
"We have had hearings on the budget and it is a very positive budget," Starling remarked during the brief meeting Thursday. "We put a substantial pay increase for our public safety and other groups. We hope to expand that next year for all employees. Everybody got a raise, but with a particular focus on public safety based on our study. We will continue that next year."
All police officers and firefighters in the
That bump would be in the form of a budgeted
For the 2017-18 budget year, the recommended annual adjustment for all employees would be a 1.5 percent for cost of living adjustment and an additional half percent for merit up to another 1.5 percent for all employees.
Sales tax revenues, which rose in the current year, are anticipated to grow further in 2017-18 to the tune of an additional 3.6 percent, according to projections. Additionally, the ad valorem tax base is an estimated
Since the early 1980s, the city has also levied a municipal vehicle tax of
While originally proposed to stay at
Public safety raises
The proposal to give across-the-board raises to firefighters and police officers followed a Classification and Compensation Study recently conducted by the
Former Police Chief
Currently,
Fire Chief
"It's going to make it hard for my guys to leave," said Phillips. "My primary firefighter coming in is
Of the
Additionally, the two Public Works positions would make up about
The original proposed budget included a 5 percent increase in the medical insurance benefit. The increase included in the final 2017-18 proposal totaled 15 percent, representing a total cost of
The recommended budget does not include use of fund balance or retained earnings for 2017-18.
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