Clinton proposed COLA, merit hikes

CLINTON — The City of Clinton is faring well this year despite the pressures of the pandemic, according to city officials.

“Obviously we are expecting to have a better budget year than what we have been through,” said City Manager Tom Hart at a recent City Council budget workshop. “We had prepared for a terrible, terrible year, and we had just a kind of okay one.”

If the proposed budget is approved, is that there will be no increase in taxes; however, there will be a “moderate utility consumption rate increase.”

Clinton tax rates include $0.10 per $100 valuation for the Clinton Fire District outside the city limits, the downtown special district is $0.18 per $100 valuation and property tax is $0.40 per 100 valuation.

One goal for the city, included in the budget, is to increase cost of living and merit increases for employees.

Benefit improvements include a 3% cost of living adjustment, 1.5% average merit increase, 0.4% 401k contribution, $100 increase in longevity, a 2% health insurance increase and a local governmental employees retirement system contribution increase. Stafford also explained that there are few medical insurance changes.

Capital equipment rotations and economic development projects were both mentioned as upcoming expenditures.

Water and sewer

The water base will not change, staying at $13.84 for 0 to 300 cubic foot. The consumption after 300 will go from $2.08 to $2.12 per 100 cf. The sewer base will stay as current, as $14.43 and the sewer over will got from $2.02 to $2.06 per cf.. This is a 2% increase. Commercial and residential rates are the same.

Finance Director Kristin Stafford shared that the current budget is $9.9 million and the upcoming budget will be $10 million.

General Fund

Fiscal year 2019-2020 actual expenses ran at $10,693,597 with actual revenue coming in at $10,780,450. Fiscal year 2020-2021 budget was $9,930,200 for expenses and revenue. Fiscal year 2020-2021 is estimated at currently $9,510,752 expenses and $10,447,319.

“For FY 20 we weren’t really sure how we were going to end up,” said Stafford. “The last quarter of that fiscal year is when the pandemic started.”

Sales tax and property taxes were “collected as expected” for that year. Previous estimates due to the pandemic were a 5% decrease in sales tax revenues.

“We have not seen that happen,” she said, stating that there was about a 10% in sales tax revenues, as of the most current payment.

The estimate due to the pandemic was to be 1% lower and they are a “little bit above that” she said which is what they typically average with their collection rate.

The upcoming fiscal year is budgeted at $10,062,100. The General Fund Ad Valorem revenue has continued to trend upward from $2.82 million in 2016 to an estimated $3.26 million for 2021, which is an increase of approximately $60,000 from last year, which is coming in at $3.2 million. There is also an expected moderate increase in the downtown budget. There have been a number of atypical expenses such buying Christmas decorations and spending $15,000 on a speaker system.

Expenditures include: Capital expenses: 5%; Debt service: 5%; Personnel: 47%; Operating: 26% and Benefits: 17%.

Parks and recreation

New tennis courts were also recommended by Parks and Recreation with a cost of $150,000 and a new truck is requested for the rotation at $25,000. Those are causing the budget for 2021-2022 to be a bit higher from the estimated $912,524 to $1,140,000 for the upcoming year.

Police and fire departments

Other expenditures were a new police vehicle to go into the rotation and a Cadet program. The vehicle will be $45,000 and the Cadet program $25,000. This is also will be the first full year with three additional firefighters Stafford said.

There also expenses expected with redistricting from the 2020 census. FY 2019-2020 the actual was $96,969, estimated for 2020-2021 is $90,043 and the budgeted for 2021 to 2022 is $126,500.

Infrastructure needs include continued preventative maintenance expenses and the “cost of supplies/materials/abilities to line up contractors” as these items had become more difficult, said Stafford.

Streets, sanitation and grounds

The capital expenses expectation are $145,000 for paving, $50,000 for storm drainage, and $20,000 for sidewalks. Sanitation had an overall decrease and one additional position. Grounds had an increase of three positions because of the loss of inmate labor. Utility line maintenance added a part time administrator, a trailer and a truck. Capital improvements were made for the wastewater treatment plant and water production, along with other equipment.

The proposed budget also includes a $8,300 for a grant back incentive.

The budget has been posted on the City’s website for public discussion and the budget hearing was held June 1 with no comment. The meeting was recessed until June 15 at 6 p.m. for the adoption of the budget.