The Committee of the Whole voted at Thursday’s meeting to send Mayor Carter Hendricks’ proposed $36.7 million budget for next fiscal year to city council for consideration.
Thursday’s meeting was all budget discussion, as the mayor’s budget came with recommended cuts of four percent to departments and five percent to agencies, no cost of living raises for city employees and no special projects. Mayor Hendricks clarified that it also comes with an assumed four percent growth in property tax revenue, saying they won’t know how that will affect the property tax rates until some time in August.
The cuts and increase to property tax revenue come in response to increased pension burden on the city of approximately $500,000, which is currently set to increase each year unless something changes at the state level.
Each department gave a brief overview of any increases or decreases to their budgets from last year to this year. Community and Development Services is being treated as a department in this budget, and Director Steve Bourne says it is impacted significantly by the cuts, which could result in loss of personnel.
City Administrator Troy Body says they intend to attempt to find a solution for CDS that will hopefully keep them from losing two employees and bring it back to council for approval.
The proposed budget includes an increase of $250,000 for Health Trust contributions for employees, with the mayor saying that’s to help provide insurance for employees, especially since there’s not cost of living increase.
One of the biggest cuts to agencies is the Inner City REZ fund, which would be $400,000 if approved instead of the usual $500,000. Councilmember Darvin Adams expressed great concern about the change, along with others, but city officials assure that the Inner City REZ historically spends about $400,000 of their budget and shouldn’t be too adversely impacted.
A notable increase in the IT Department is $151,500 for telephones, up from $105,000 from the previous budget. It would be used to supply Hopkinsville Police Department ranking officers with the city cell phones to use in the field—hopefully to keep officers on patrol instead of reporting back to headquarters and to aid in public safety, according to Chief Clayton Sumner.
The Committee of the Whole voted to send the budget on to city council for approval, instead of discussing it further at a second Committee of the Whole meeting.