Palmer adopts city budget for 2004

PALMER -- The Palmer City Council has adopted a budget for 2004 that includes money for capital projects and pay raises for city employees.

Council members unanimously put their stamp of approval on an amended budget during Tuesday's meeting. City manager Tom Healy said the budget process, always the biggest project of the year, went relatively smoothly this time.

The city adopted more than a dozen amendments Tuesday, moving some projects back into the budget after they previously were deleted. The additions, such as $150,000 for a new street sweeper, were possible due to higher than expected revenues during the current year.

The city took in $870,000 more than it had in expenses in 2003, according to Healy. The rosy financial picture was helped by getting $120,000 from Valley Hospital for removing covenants on the hospital property, and $45,000 in reduced medical insurance premiums, he said.

Healy estimated the general fund balance to be $2,936,000 at the end of this year. The city must keep one third of that in reserve, he noted, which leaves $1.2 million available.

The city manager suggested in a memo to the board that the extra money not be spent until the city develops funding plans for projects not in the 2004 budget. Those include improvement of the Dogwood Avenue and Glenn Highway intersection, the indoor ice arena project, and the Felton Street reconstruction.

The final budget amount for 2004 will not be available until staff members tabulate all the additions and reductions in the amended version. However, Healy said property owners will not be paying any additional taxes next year because the mill rate remains at the same 3 mill rate as the current year.

During budget discussions at Tuesday's council meeting, Public Works Supervisor Rick Koch defended spending $150,000 on a new sweeper for that department. The city has been spending $5,000 to $10,000 annually on maintenance of its current sweeper, he said, and a new machine will be more cost effective.

The biggest project added back under the amended budget involves property acquisition for a runway at Palmer Municipal Airport. Some $220,000 had been allocated for that purpose in the draft budget, but the council boosted the total amount to $500,000 in the adopted version.

A total of $120,000 was added to city employee pay schedules as the city moves from a 15-step pay plan to a nine-step plan. That means it will take nine years, not the current 15, for people to reach the top salary step for their position.

The amount of salary increase each employee will receive under the new plan depends on which step they are on this year. Also, the salaries for some city jobs were recalculated for 2004 to bring Palmer in line with similar markets elsewhere, Healy said.

In other amendments, $63,061 was added to hire an assistant to the city manager, and $45,628 was allocated for a Palmer Police Department assistant to serve as evidence custodian and records manager.

Some $30,000 was added for bike paths and pedestrian walkways, and another $20,000 was added for other park improvements.

The final budget also included some deletions from the proposed budget. Among those was a $50,000 reduction in the Golf Course Fund in order to leave that amount of cash available for future contingencies or possible shortfalls in future general obligation bond payments.

Projects no longer funded at the golf course include parking lot paving, $30,000; a utility vehicle, $10,000; and cart paths, $10,000.