Spencer Aldermen approved an estimated $1.3 million budget on first reading Thursday night with concerns about funding for road improvements.
Spencer Mayor Alisa Farmer said the budget includes some $56,300 for the city’s street fund. Farmer said an estimated $43,000 of that fund will go towards paying a note for the paving of many streets that were paved seven to eight years ago.
“It eats up all of that,” Farmer said. “So what we have left is the only thing we can use with the streets, so I’m actively trying to pursue, trying to find some money out there somewhere to do some street repairs, until then, band-aid fix is all we can do.”
Farmer said the city has received complaints about the condition of several roads.
Farmer said the budget will also include two to four percent raises for city employees. Farmer said the raises will be based on an employee’s performance.
“Each employee is evaluated annually at different times throughout the year,” Farmer said. “They are not all set on a certain schedule, but they are evaluated.”
Despite the need for more street funding, Farmer said the new budget looks promising.
“We’ve had a lot of revenue coming in, in regards to sales tax and just different things,” Farmer said. “We project that to be even better next year, but everything is looking very favorable. We are making progress in the city of Spencer.”
Farmer said putting the budget together this year was much easier compared to years past. Farmer said the reason the budget was easier was because the utilities are now in the hands of the Warren County Utility District.
“We really struggled with it (Utilities) because of the fact that we just did not have the revenue coming in that could cover the expenses, but we no longer have that, and so the city side of it, the general accounts and stuff like that, have always been in the positive,” Farmer said. “We’ve always not had a problem making ends meet.”
The budget will also consist of making the Public Works Director position full-time. The Spencer Aldermen will look to approve the budget on second and final reading at the next meeting.
In other business, the aldermen approved renewing a contract with AirMed. Farmer said the charging grate is an estimated $6,500.
The aldermen approved repealing city ordinances in regards to the city lake on second and final reading. Farmer said that since the city no longer owns the lake, the city can not enforce ordinances on the lake. The lake now belongs to the Warren County Utility District.
A 10.81 TCRS rate for city employees was approved. City Recorder Crystal Crain said this is the same rate as last year’s rate.
