City officials have one goal right now: Cutting $216,000 from the general fund for the upcoming FY2016 budget.
Creston City Council met with every city department manager Tuesday evening and they explained expenses that have been cut already. Those cuts include new vehicles, office furniture, renovations to the restored Depot, lawn mowers, employee training and more.
“We don’t have any wishes in this budget,” said Becky Johnson, accounting manager for the city of Creston. “We are trying to fill needs and even with these cuts we’ve already made we’re still short $216,000 in round numbers. We could shave off a couple thousand from each department, but we’re still looking at a big number we need to cut.”
Mike Taylor, city administrator, said $216,000 needs cut so the general fund — which currently stands at about $550,000 — can be at a safe operating level of $750,000.
“We’ve used that number as a guide, but it’s not a policy of the council that it must be at $750,000,” Taylor said.
The council had preliminary discussions about where to cut $216,000 from the budget and — with much of the equipment already removed — spoke about the possibilities of making some “tough decisions” including cutting wages, benefits or jobs altogether and city services.
But, perhaps the most concrete suggestions for additional cuts during Tuesday’s two-hour meeting came from former Creston Mayor Larry Wynn during public forum. Wynn suggested the city sell the “Taylor ground” on Cottonwood Street which the city purchased for about $295,000 in 2007.
Wynn also suggested closing the city pool, which would be a savings of about $80,000 in FY2016 and each year following.
“There will be some people that aren’t going to like it, but there is part of your $200,000. That pool has been a drain on this town for years,” Wynn said.
Lastly, Wynn suggested enticing some city employees to retire early, but not replace them.
“We need to combine more jobs,” Wynn said.
Raising taxes to cover the $216,000 was also discussed with one city official informing the council that for each $1 on the levy the city receives about $177,000 annually.
“That’s not something I’m interested in, though,” Taylor said about raising taxes.
All possibilities will be discussed further when the council meets in another work session 6 p.m. Thursday. Creston Mayor Warren Woods told the council to come with concrete suggestions on how to cut the $216,000.
Taylor reminded the council that it’s mandated that their budget be certified by March 15 and notices and public hearing must be held before that.
The franchise fee and its potential funding were not discussed during the work session Tuesday because it has not been approved at three readings yet.