Message from the Mayor
Photo by Sunlight Photo
The City’s proposed budget for the 2013-2014 fiscal year is $17.5 million, down 1.5 million from last year. It is a balanced budget, and for the first time in several years, we did not have to take from our general fund reserves to balance it. We were able to reinstate the merit raises for city employees this year. As you know our city employees have not received merit raises or cost of living raises for the past 2 years. They will not receive a cost of living wage increase again this year, only merit raises if they are justified. I believe as a Municipality one of our greatest assets is our employees. The bottom line is they are the ones who make it all work. Because of them Powell is what it is, a clean safe place for us to live, make a living, and raise our children.
As I said in my previous letter there have been cuts and some of them might not be popular. Avenue widening for A, B, C, and D have been placed on hold. Division Street waterline replacement and street widening have been placed on hold. All city departments were scrutinized; overtime, building maintenance, equipment purchases, and travel expenses were looked at and reduced where possible.
Normal maintenance and day to day operations of the city will continue, with an emphasis this year on playground safety, park irrigation and upkeep, sign and sign post upgrades, and cleaning of storm drains and rerouting and cleaning tile drains that were installed by the irrigation district many years ago. Construction on the Municipal Solid Waste Transfer Station has started. We are still actively pursuing all options for the disposal of our city solid waste. The construction on the combination Snow Removal Equipment and Fixed Based Operator Building at the Airport will be starting in the near future. We have cut our expenses at the Aquatic Center by over $150,000 which is not as much as I had hoped but a good start. Hopefully we can come up with some new marketing strategies and continue to reduce our losses.
Hope you and yours have a wonderful summer!
Don E. Hillman
Mayor
City of Powell
dhillman@cityofpowell.com
Don Hillman
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