City commissioners gathered Tuesday for a special called meeting to discuss the 2019-2020 City budget. Overall, City officials said the process was a smooth one, and with local unemployment numbers at one of the city’s all-time lows, and a budget that focused largely on public safety, there wasn’t much to debate by the end of the nearly three-hour session.
Different department heads provided their budget overviews to the city commission. While some are operating on an increased budget, others are operating on a marginally lower budget compared to the 2018-2019 fiscal year.
Public Events — Tim Ross, Director of Public Events
The public events department is operating on a 5 percent lesser budget than last year at a $685,870 annual budget for the 2019-2020 fiscal year. Due to reductions in the Air Show and a discontinued Bluegrass on the Banks music show, the public events department should experience a reduction in costs.
“We do a handful of signature events every year, such as the Bar B-Q Fest and the Air Show,” Ross said. “We also have partnerships with numerous events like Puzzle Pieces and the Color Blast they did, Wendell Foster and the half marathon, as well as Friday After 5. There’s a little more than a hundred events we provide support for throughout the year.”
Community Development — Abby Shelton, Community Development Director
Operating on a budget of $208,798, the community development department will operate on a 3 percent lower budget than last year.
With the Triplett Twist development project nearing its end, Shelton said an economic impact of $2.3 million in public funds and $2.7 million in private funds will be derived from community development projects.
“Our Habitat for Humanity partnership has flourished,” Shelton said. “We’ve either sold properties or donated properties, then we take the buildings down and give the land to build new homes which, of course, creates new revenues for us.”
Information Technology — Angela Bruner, IT Manager
IT will be operating on a 3 percent budget increase compared to that of last year at a total budget of $1.9 million.
Maintenance will see a 49 percent increase of $589,338 due to two big projects, including city-wide WiFi and a major software upgrade at $63,000. A Microsoft Office purchase also costs $150,000 every three years.
GIS (Geographical Information System) — Will Carpenter, Manager of GIS
City funds pays for 25 percent of the GIS budget, which will be operating on a 5 percent higher budget ($21,998) than last year, at a total budget of $466,004.
Personnel costs will increase 6 percent ($24,647), while maintenance will decrease by 5 percent, due to a decrease in computer maintenance.
Finance Department — Dane’ Galloway, Deputy Director of Finance and Support Services
With 17 full-time and four part-time employees, the City’s finance department will operate on a 4 percent increased budget ($560,041 more) compared to last year. On a total operating budget of $1,707,901, personnel costs have increased due to cost of living adjustment by 5 percent at a total personnel increase of $564,000.
“We do all revenue collections for the City, including property tax collections for the City and city schools,” Galloway said. “We do occupational net profit license fees collections for both the City and the County and insurance premium license fees being the main sources of revenue. We provide support to City departments in the form of accounts payable processing, miscellaneous billing and overall finance support.”
Personnel — Josh Bachmeier, Human Resources Manager at City of Owensboro
A budget of $817,962 — an 8 percent increase from last year — was requested by Buckmeier. The increased cost is due to a revamp of Owensboro’s Hometown Heroes campaign.
“Included with that will be print media and social media [advertising],” Buckmeier said.
Personnel costs will also increase by 6 percent, at $29,545 more than the 2018-2019 fiscal year.
Buckmeier hopes to reinstate tuition reimbursement as a means of attracting high-quality candidates for positions within different City departments. The reimbursement will cost an additional $10,000 compared to last year’s budget.
Police — Chief Art Ealum, Owensboro Police Department
Chief Ealum proposed a 4 percent budget increase of $553,995 to bring OPD’s annual budget for 2019-2020 to $14,114,180. The increased budget is due to cost of living increases for the entire department.
“I’m pleased to say we’re at 102 officers full-time, which is the most we’ve had in seven or eight years,” Ealum said.
A 17 percent increase in maintenance and a capital increase of 2 percent will allow OPD to incorporate 10 custom-signal dash cams for cruisers, which will bring them up to current standards in technology.
Moreover, $59,995 will go toward a Trimble SX10 3D Scanner that will provide 3D images at accident scenes. Ealum said this would allow shorter road closures and homicide investigation processes.
“This will reduce hours into minutes,” Ealum said.
Central Dispatch — Paul Nave, Public Safety Director
With 27 full-time telecommunicators, Nave’s budget will decrease by almost $1 million dollars. Capital projects, such as the upcoming P-25 radio project, an MDT project and a CAD project will have come to fruition after this year, so those funds will no longer be included in next year’s budget.
Central Dispatch’s budget should decrease by 24 percent at $936,629 less than the 2018-2019 budget. Central Dispatch’s total budget should fall around $7,898,849.
Fire Department — Chief Steve Mitchell, Owensboro Fire Department
OFD provides five stations spread throughout the city, responds to 8,200 calls per year and has an arrival time of under five minutes for 82 percent of those calls. OFD’s budget will be 2 percent less than last year, totaling $11,476,653.
While personnel costs will increase by 4 percent and maintenance by 22 percent, OFD’s capital costs will decrease by 52 percent compared to last year.
One of OFD’s newest projects will include a school partnership implementation, where firefighters will teach CPR, first aid and fire safety to seventh graders across the city.
Public Works — Wayne Shelton, Director of Public Works and Steven Franklin, Deputy Director of Owensboro Public Works
Street Department: The street department will operate on a budget of $2,149,418 with a 5 percent decrease ($102,557) from 2018-2019. A reduction in supplies and two mild winters as of late helped contribute to less money spent.
Stormwater/Ditch Crew: This department didn’t see any big budget changes from 2018-2019, staying fairly stagnant with only a $103 budget reduction at a total budget of $455,241. Last year’s budget saw some engineering work that this year’s budget doesn’t include.
Property Maintenance: Overall, this budget is down 2 percent ($54,259) from last year at a total budget of $234,984. Hiring a second full-time inspector replaced part-time inspectors, lowering the personnel costs by $21,699. Fifteen properties across the city qualified for demolition, raising the demolition costs from $69,975 last year to $150,000 for the 2019-2020 fiscal year.
“Tearing down an individual’s property is what I call a last resort measure,” Shelton said. “There may be numerous citations against them — mowing, tree removal. It’s not a process that’s taken lightly. I’d say the number of properties heading in that direction would be in the 70s to 80s.”
Sanitation: The sanitation budget is up 6 percent ($429,018) for a total budget of $7,482,337 for 2019-2020. Personnel costs are up 6 percent ($139,753) due to insurance and retirement costs.
Capital is up 38 percent due to upcoming replacements of several pieces of equipment, including a new mini-sweeper for downtown, three new leaf machines, two new trucks for yard waste collection and two new side loaders for residential services.
For large events held across the city, Shelton said, “Sanitation is always in that gray area behind the scenes.”
Transit: The transit budget is down 5 percent ($137,885) for 2019-2020, at a total budget of $2,803,044.
“If you look at those numbers, part of that is due to some grants we’ve worked through and received,” Shelton said. “So you’ll see that decrease, like in maintenance costs [down 26 percent], is primarily based on a grant of $110,000 that was received. That does impact the overall budget.”
Shelton brought up highlights for the transit department, including five new bus shelters and city-wide outreach programs to enhance ridership among residents. Shelton said Public Works is working to build 12 new bus shelters in the near future. The transit department is also working with local colleges, such as Kentucky Wesleyan, Brescia University and Owensboro Community & Technical College to implement downtown trolley rides to students who attend those schools. The idea is that each student would pay a fee at the beginning of the year if they were to take advantage of the program.
Facilities Maintenance: An internal service fund consisting of two divisions — buildings and grounds — maintain all public facilities, parks, special events and severe weather cleanup. Sitting at a budget of $3,708,756, the facilities management department will see a 9 percent decrease ($375,973) for their 2019-2020 budget. Twenty-three full-time employees and eight seasonal temporary employees make up the department.
“Personnel is up 5 percent, due to salaries, retirement and health insurance,” Franklin said.
Garage: Another internal service fund operation, the City garage employs seven full-time staff members, six of whom are mechanics. The garage’s 2019-2020 budget is up 3 percent from last year at a total budget of $1,404,401.
“The City garage performs routine services and maintenance to all city fleet vehicles and construction equipment,” Franklin said.
Personnel costs are up due to salary, retirement and pension costs, Franklin said.
General Government — Nate Pagan, City Manager
The budget for general government will see a 10 percent increase ($1,033,348) for a total budget of $11,475,962.
A $500,000 pension reserve is being put into the account as a measure of good management for costs the City knows is coming, Pagan said.
“Whatever estimated surplus the finance department expects us to have — say if we have a $1 million surplus, I’ll also propose that half of that goes toward the pension reserve account, while the other [half] would go into the fund balance to help with our GOFA standards,” Pagan said.
TIF Funds — Angela Hamric, Director of Finance and Support Services
The Gateway Commons TIF will total $1,106,339. Of that, $293,103 will go to Gateway development, while another $490,660 will be transferred to economic development, and another $322,576 will go toward RWRA.
The Downtown Riverfront TIF will see a total of $876,610, and all of that money will go toward the City’s debt service.
Your Community Vision Fund — Lelan Hancock, Assistant City Manager
Allocated funding will total $5,630,560 for the 2019-2020 fiscal year, and that money will be divided between different projects.
The improvements being made at Fisher Park will see $1,225,000 of those funds, while Firestation #2 will receive $200,000 for an expansion project. The firehouse currently houses six firefighters in a building designed to house four.
Agency Funding — Nate Pagan, City Manager
No increases will be given to any of the arts agencies, with the exception of the Owensboro Museum of Science & History. Pagan proposed an increase after Cathy Olson made an error in her current year request, so Pagan put the museum back at where they stood for operating payments two years before.
Social Services — Nate Pagan, City Manager
A budget of $425,000 has been allocated toward social services. United Way allocates the funding for the majority of these organizations.
General Fund Spending — Nate Pagan, City Manager
“The budget is an overview of what our priorities are and, as you can see, public safety is a big portion of that,” Pagan said.
Public Safety receives $25,590,833 of the $46,683,379 totalled funds. Support services will receive $6,379,887. Infrastructure will see a budget of $6,258,416 while the general government department will receive $4,645,810. The parks department will receive $3,630,476. Agencies will receive $1,969,159 and community development will see a budget of $208,798.
Revenue Sources/Estimates — Angela Hamric, Director of Finance and Support Services
The top five revenue sources account for $47,301,179 or 82.1 percent of the total general fund revenues. These budgeted revenue sources for 2019-2020 include occupational licenses ($18,423,000), property taxes ($11,463,000), OMU dividend ($7,325,171), insurance premium license fees ($6,400,00) and net profit licenses ($3,690,000).
“Any increases in revenue comes from growth in the revenue base,” Hamric said. “This is the first year where a portion of general fund revenues is being reflected in the TIF funds.”
City commissioners thanked Pagan and Hamric’s finance department for their efforts in finalizing a budget that focused on important aspects of the community.
“It’s really great to see a budget that is taking care of our public safety, taking care of our staff here, all of the departments, and to have a budget that puts half a million dollars back into its general fund without raising anyone’s taxes,” said Mayor Pro Tem Larry Maglinger.
“Compared to what we have been going through, this was very, very pleasing to see,” said Commissioner Larry Conder. “About the agencies — we do need to get together and brainstorm some ideas to help with that because I don’t think any of us up here want to see someone fail, nor would we like to make them fail.”
