The City of Owensboro is proposing a “status quo” $70.6 million budget, up approximately $14 million from the current fiscal year. With no tax increases, the budget focuses primarily on raising pay for employees.
Other highlights in the proposed budget include a standard 2% or less raise to several organizations in the community including the RiverPark Center, Owensboro-Daviess County Regional Airport, United Way of the Ohio Valley, and others.
“It is a balanced budget,” City Manager Nate Pagan said. “We are proposing no tax rate changes and the same employment numbers, and by that I mean there are no new employees added and so our employment level stays the same and not adding any other staff for the next fiscal year. And then ultimately, I think another overarching priority is that we prioritize our people in the budget,”
The City’s overall proposed general fund spending sits at $70,682,865 — broken down by department as follows:
- Public Safety — $34,251,823
- Support Services — $9,223,632
- Public Works — $7,208,926
- General Government — $4,406,422
- Parks — $4,434,782
- Agencies — $1,947,724
- Community Development — $340,938
In addition, they propose Operating Transfers of $8,397,044, Transfer to Debt Service of $406,574 and Capital Transfers of $65,000.
A breakdown of each departments’ requests are as follows:
Administration
Admin is requesting a $1,634,186 increase — up 13% from last year. Director of Public Events Tim Ross said this cost is mostly attributed to the increased worker pay. While the compensation takes up $195,000 of the increase, Ross said that they are also seeing a decrease in the need for supplies of $14,206.
Public Events
Ross said that his office is requesting $1,198,740 — a 36% increase from last year. He said this was mostly due to the increase in compensation and an increase in supplies and capital and other expenses.
Specifically, he said that they plan to expand the Christmas Dancing Lights downtown, which also is a major contributor to the cost in supplies.
Community Development
Community Development Director Abby Shelton is requesting the department receive $340,938 — an increase of 14%. In addition to personnel salary, she is seeing increases across the board due to the cost of materials.
Information Technology
The IT department for the city is requesting an all-around 20% raise in funding to a total of $3,078,297 — with the largest contributor being supplies with upgrading their fiber switch and core switch redundancy, implementing IT structure assessment and upgrading network operations center.
Geographic Information System
The department is requesting a budget of $589,593 with increases across the board, largely in part of the personnel pay increase. The city along with three other organizations fund the GIS in four equal parts.
Owensboro Fire Department
The Fire Department is requesting the highest increase in the budget with $1,389,279 — with $1.2 million going into personnel expenses. Fire Chief James Howard said that these expenses are going toward expanding their Advanced Life Support program, improving safety communications and cancer prevention programs, and technology rescue ability.
Finance Department
The Finance Department is proposing a 6% increase in their budget totaling in $2,151,681 increase, mostly driven by the personnel increases and other fees.
Human Resources
The Human Resources department primarily is seeing an increase in employee wages totaling a $1,160,728.
Owensboro Police Department
Police Chief Art Ealum is requesting a 5% increase for an operating budget of $18,556,585. Just over one million dollars will be used toward personnel expenses, though decreases in maintenance and supplies will result in an expenditure decrease of almost $340,000.
Central Dispatch
Dispatch is proposing a 12% decrease in expenses for a budget of $3,609,274. While they are seeing a raise in personnel expenses, Director Paul Nave said they are seeing a decrease in maintenance, supplies, and capital expenditures.
Parks
Director Amanda Rogers said that Parks Department is requesting a $4,434782 budget for the upcoming year. Rodgers cited the 4% increase is primarily to fund personnel raises.
Recreation
The Recreation Department is requesting $3,790,985, down 7% from their previous request. While there is a 21% increase in personnel and maintenance expenses each, Rogers noted that most of the maintenance costs associated with Cravens Pool have rolled over from the previous year so they are not requesting as much as expected to complete that project.
Engineering
The Engineering Department is requesting a total budget of $3,954,233 — up 4% from the previous year. A total of $2,500,000 will go toward resurfacing 8 miles of road this year.
Street
The Street department is requesting $2,747,520 — a 1% increase. While there is a large bump to be spent spent on personnel and maintenance, they are seeing a drop of over $225,000 in capital expenditures.
Stormwater
There is a $560,193 budget proposal — a 16% increase.
Property Maintenance
They are proposing a 41% decrease in their budget, bringing them to a total of $356,576.
Facilities Maintenance (Buildings)
They are requesting a 5% increase, bringing their budget to $1,661,220.
Facilities Maintenance (Grounds)
They are requesting a budget of $2,587,616 — a drop of 6% from this current year.
Garage:
The City Garage is requesting $1,606,740 due to rising expenses across the board.
Sanitation
The Sanitation Department is requesting $7,962,886 for this Fiscal Year— down over $1.1 million from the current budget. This is primarily due to timing of purchasing of capital vehicles and equipment.
Transit
The Transit Department is seeing the highest drop in budget requests as they request $3,343,520 for the upcoming year — down almost $4 million. Personnel has increased roughly 7% but maintenance, but other and capital expenditures have all seen decreases.
Nondepartmental Funds
Northwest Incentives total $975,484, while Workforce Initiatives and Downtown Incentives make up $140,000 and $150,000, respectively.
TIF Funds
Gateway Commons TIF funds are expected to bring in a total revenue of $1.54 million to the area while spending the same amount in expenditures. The Downtown TIF fund will be bringing in $1.42 million in total revenue and will also be spending the same amount in expenditures.
Your Community Vision
The YCV funds will be allocating $9,577,715 to the following departments:
- Stormwater – $3,402,142
- Parks – $888,037
- Public Works – $3,785,665
- Public Safety – $1,201,871
- IT Infrastructure – $300,000
Arts Department
The Arts Department is proposing a $98,562 increase across the board due to the standard annual increase. That includes a $3,557 increase to the RiverPark Center, a $3,000 increase to the Bluegrass Hall of Fame and Museum, and similar bumps for other organizations.
Social Services
The various organizations are seeing a collective increase of $363,595 allotted to them, with Miscellaneous agencies being funded by roughly $375,000 of them.
Government Services
All services are largely remaining the same except for a $3,007 increase to the Owensboro Regional Airport and a $1,546 increase to the Human Relations Council.
