Council hopes to finalize budget Monday

Accounting manager James Wascher updated the council on potential moves relating to occupational licenses, a hike in the property tax rates and changes in liability insurance, but the big surprise was his announcement that a projected 11-percent increase in the city’s cost for health insurance “is not going to materialize.”

“That knocks $123,318 off (the revenue gap),” Wascher noted.

City manager Clarence Bryant missed the meeting due to illness. Wascher said Bryant wants to use $103,000 of that “savings” to fund a 2.5-percent increase for city employees who have not had a salary hike in four years.

That sentiment got little support Monday night.

“I know they all need raises, but you’ve got to be able to afford it,” offered mayor pro tem Keith Burchett.

Mayor Clark Hill indicated a preference to giving Christmas bonuses — estimates ranged from $25,000 to $40,000 for that cost — instead of raises.

That will be one of the options facing the council Monday. Others include:

•increasing the occupational license fees, which would raise $22,000 to $24,000

•increasing the property tax rate. A one-mill increase is expected to bring in an additional $165,000.

•reducing its deductible and its maximum coverage on liability insurance, which would cut costs by $25,000

•increasing the minimum charge for natural gas

Balancing the budget is one issue. Living with it for a year is another, and Hill repeatedly pointed out that there are no contingency funds in the draft version of the document.

“On a $6 million budget, something is going to happen,” he said. He reminded the council that for four years, the city has pushed planned capital purchases back. He pointed out that the General Fund spending has been cut 25 percent over the past four years, a lot of it by deferring capital expenditures.

“The problem is, in four to five years we’re going to buy five to six police cars and one or two big pieces of equipment — all these purchases we haven’t done in the last three years,” Hill said.

For decades, Commerce has counted on transfers from its gas and electric departments to supplement the General Fund. The loss of its major gas customer, Louisiana Pacific, left the city using Gas Department reserves to support the General Fund, and a record warm winter this year only heightened the revenue shortage. Now, those reserves are depleted to the point that major transfers of funds are out of the question.

Hill said the public expects the city government to “get the city in stable financial condition again” and said he does not want to see another budget “that does the very minimum we can do.”

During the course of the evening, the council also discussed seeking savings in city telephone service costs, considering future salary increases largely on the basis of merit, and letting police officers drive cars home at night as a means of retaining and attracting officers.

The council plans to pass the budget at its June 11 meeting.