BRUNSWICK --- The elimination of one city employee due to attrition and plans for two additional road projects - made possible by the $1.2 million sale of city owned property - mark the highlights of the city's $52.7 million 2017 operation budget, Finance Director Todd Fischer said last week.
City council unanimously approved the budget at its Nov. 28 regular meeting.
"There are two improvements outside the road levy (receipts) - an additional portion of Grafton Road and Skyview Drive, which we have talked about for years," Fischer said.
Road repairs
The Grafton Road reconstruction project - from 360 feet west of Hadcock Road to 3,075 feet east of the Judy Lane intersection - is estimated to cost $1.3 million, with the city expecting a state grant of $610,000 to go toward the project.
Fischer said that grant money would be available by July 2017.The budget calls for setting aside and additional $685,811 for this project.
The Skyview Drive project, extending from Pearl Road to Woodhollow Drive, will include new curbs, underdrains, drive aprons, and sidewalks and is estimated at $926,290.
This leaves a balance of 273,710 in revenues from the city's property sale - assuming the state grant award is received - and not including the city's budgeted outlay of $685,811. The upshot being that the city will be able to complete more than $2.2 million worth of road repairs for just over a half million dollars.
"Plus, we anticipated getting $800,000 for road repairs and improvements and asphalt in the neighborhoods through our annual road levy program," Fischer said.
He added that the city has done "an excellent job" budgeting for road repairs, but residents sometimes fail to realize the scope of the maintaining 400 roadways within the city.
"I don't think people realize the magnitude of the expense of road repairs," he said. "We are doing as much as we can while bring fiscally responsible. For instance, this year we are able to put a one-time revenue source (the property sale) into a one-time project."
Positions coming and going
The 2017 budget also calls for not replacing the $78,000 per year salary of community policing coordinator, a non-safety service position formerly held by Nick Solar, who retired earlier this year. Meanwhile, an administrative assistant in the service department was added earlier in 2016, with the 2017 budget reflecting the first full year of this $33,000 annual salary, along with an anticipated assistant IT position at $70,000 per year.
"So we are adding a net one person since we eliminated the community policing coordinator," Fischer said.
Fischer said the city has continued to "tighten the budget any way we can," without affecting safety service staffing.
Voters defeated a five-year income tax request that would have replaced and added 0.5 percent to one of the city's existing safety specific levies, which is set to expire at the end of 2017. The income tax increase would have generated another $1.8 million in the police and fire departments.
"From an additional funding standpoint, we will be short about $1.8-to-$2 million from 2018 to 2022," Fischer said. "We're anticipating going back to the voters; the (November 2016 levy) was designed to go early so we wouldn't have to rush into anything."
Summary
In his 2017 operational budget summary statement, Fischer wrote.
"The city has made enormous changes in the past few years, including changed and reduced operations, balanced budgets for the last six fully completed fiscal years (201-2015), implemented a renewed and sound funding mechanism...and also obtained a road levy for neighborhood improvements
"The accomplishments we can point to today are staggering versus what we thought possible just six years ago. The city, however, still faces many challenges and difficult decisions, as evident by the city's second year in a row of planned budgeted spending of some reserves to maintain safety staffing levels, while continuing a few infrastructure and capital improvement projects."