Hopkinsville City Council approved first reading of a $41.1 million budget for the upcoming fiscal year during Tuesday night’s meeting.
The city will have to spend an additional $600,000 in pension costs in the upcoming budget and city employees would receive a two-percent cost-of-living raise if the plan passes second reading.
There are also expenditures to bring the salaries of some department heads into line with their peers across the state.
Councilmember Jason Bell put forth an amendment to put $50,000 towards the Inner-City REZ budget, saying that initiative could really use the extra funding.
Chief Financial Officer Robert Martin says to rebalance the budget from that change, it would require him to move over more prior year revenues.
The amendment passed six to four, with members Tom Johnson, Steve Keel, Alethea West and Chuck Crabtree voting no.
The original spending plan had been in the amount of $40.5 million, but thanks to a carry forward amount of $557,300, in bumped up the overall total.
The city is projecting an 8.8 percent increase in payroll tax revenue with continued recovery from the pandemic and the mayor is not anticipating any increase to the property tax rate.