City officials started the budgeting process this week with no significant changes in anticipated revenue or expenses on tap.
At a meeting Wednesday, three of the five council members met with department heads looking for needed purchases.
Mayor Jennifer Clason said the budget for the 2017-18 fiscal year contains, “needs only, no wants. It’s a rollover of last year’s budget with inflation because tax revenue has been down.”
The preliminary budget estimate is based on the town receiving $2,037,000 in sales and use tax revenues. For the past 11 years, the city has averaged $2,466,374 annually in sales taxes.
With taxes and other revenue sources, the council is looking at $6.761 million in the general fund revenue.
Council members Bill Goodner and Shannon Scott backed setting aside $50,000 to pay for demolition of abandoned and unsightly structures.
Code enforcement officer Jody Agee said it costs around $5,000 to tear down a house. “If we can get DEQ to allow us to put the debris on the north side of the Shurden-Leist site and don’t have to pay disposal fees, that can drop the cost to $3,000,” he said.
Agee estimated there are around 100 houses that need to be torn down. “We will look at the ones that are hazardous, close to other houses and dangerous to kids.”
One house that needs to be demolished he described as having, “severe black mold. “It is a public safety issue and close to another house.”
A major expense facing the town is repair and replacement of bridges cited by the Oklahoma Department of Transportation.
“Bridge replacement is going to eat us up,” said council member Bill Goodner.
The street department is expected to spend nearly $400,000 but costs of that bridge work could take a large part of those funds.
libraryAnother issue facing the council is the library building.
Housed in the 80-year-old former post office building, the library needs an estimated $500,000 of repairs.
Clason explained there are potential issues with lead-based paint and asbestos.
A proposal to move the library to the abandoned health department building was scrapped after librarian JoAnn Hott said there would not be enough room.
Council members approved purchasing a tire machine and wheel balancer for the city garage and will be looking at alternatives toward uniforms for city employees.
Currently the town pays around $17,000 for uniforms.
Council members are going to hold public meetings on the budget in the weeks to come. The final budget has to be approved by the end of June. The new fiscal year starts July 1.