Airway council approves budget amendments

AIRWAY HEIGHTS – Finalizing budget amendments as the year closes was the main topic of discussion during the final council meeting and study session of 2021 for the City Council.

City Clerk/Treasurer Stanley Schubert brought the first action item, Ordinance No. C-981, to the council’s table.

The ordinance amends the final budget for 2021.

Schubert explained that some of the projected expenses will exceed departmental revenue in some areas.

He proposed some interfund transfers to help balance the final budget.

As an example, Schubert said the Street Fund would be over budget, but proposed an interfund transfer to the street fund from Transportation Benefit District in the amount of $350,000 during a presentation.

Schubert said the money is available in that fund due to a process that started in 2015.

He said that council had previously approved $50,000 in funds to be collected from the Transportation Benefit District annually, but “the administrative process was not completed.”

Councilman Art Bubb asked why the funds had gone overlooked for that long, and Schubert answered that the funds had been put in a specific “code” and left for nearly eight years.

Schubert also said the street fund would need an interfund transfer from the street reserve fund in the amount of $75,000.

Bubb questioned the reasoning for these transfers, and said, “Did we spend more than we brought in?”

Schubert’s answer the query, and he said some of the areas didn’t bring in as much revenue as the city had expected, and those areas don’t have enough reserve funds to cover the deficit.

Bubb thanked him for the clarification.

Councilman Larry Bowman said he understands a lot of pressure has been put on the departments running on minimal staff.

He also said recent years have brought a lot of obstacles to overcome, and it will take some time for things to fall back in place.

City Manager Albert Tripp added that sometimes expenses do pop up that are unexpected and can strain departmental budgets, as well.

The amendment was motioned, seconded and unanimously approved through council.

Ordinance C-976 was also presented by Schubert, and this ordinance reflects the final budget for 2022. The budget saw some heavy cuts in the city service departments, and a total of $2.6 million in proposed services were dropped.

The ordinance was set for a second public hearing, so the hearing was amended into the agenda and Mayor Sonny Weathers opened the public hearing at 5:58 p.m.

During his presentation, Schubert said the Police Department had requested three new full-time officers, a part time property room technician and seven new vehicles.

All of those requests were denied along with street repair equipment such as dump trucks.

He also said the Parks and Recreaction Department were looking to hire a full time employee and a part-time office worker along with general park personnel. Those requests were cut from the budget as well.

Administrative positions were also proposed for the 2022 budget, but the hiring of a human resources manager and administrative assistant were also dropped.

Schubert showed the expected revenue for all funds is $27,638,664.43, but the proposed expenditures outweigh that number and is $29,899,824.88.

This leaves an expected deficit of $2,261,160.45 for the 2022 budget.

Councilman Bowman said he wants to try and increase revenue through the recreation center by opening the availability more.

He said adding more hours can spur an increase in membership and that can increase the overall revenue the city will see.

Councilman Bubb cautioned that if that idea backfires the city will be spending further into the deficit and worsening the problem.

It was agreed that it will take some time for the city to recover, as well, and time should be allowed for results to start showing.

At 6:27 p.m., the public hearing was closed, and C-976 was moved, seconded and unanimously approved through council votes.

Closing the meeting, several members of council took a moment to thank long serving Councilman Doyle Inman.

Inman served his last meeting as a council member and said he has enjoyed serving the community he loves.

Councilwoman Jennifer Morton took a moment to thank Inman for being an inspirational leader and said she is “blessed to have worked with him.”

Mayor Weathers said Inman “served the community very well” and that he was happy to have worked with him.

Tripp said he truly appreciates Inman’s “community pride and engagement.” Tripp and Deputy Mayor Veronica Messing agreed Inman was always out participating and truly being a part of the community he served.

Schubert said he appreciated all of Inman’s tough questioning, because it made him a better person and helped him prepare for meetings more effectively.

It was announced Doyle Inman will receive a Service Award during a future meeting.