Prelim budget is OK'd

The Troy City Council moved forward on its budget plans last Thursday to make ready for deadline the night of Sept. 6.

The grand total for the city budget was $2.329 million, which, coming into this Thursday’s final meeting, could be changed by upward of $60,000.

Mayor Tony Brown, still recovering from an accident earlier in the week, excused himself after making his mayor’s comments.

The comments echoed his refrain from the last several meetings of trying to corral city worker overtime with an “administrative assistant.” Various figures were tossed around about how much this position would cost the city. 

Brown said that the figure for a $40,000 salaried employee would cost the city $61,064 a year because of health insurance and benefits. 

Councilwoman Crystal Denton and City Clerk Tracy Rebo did some math later in the meeting and came up with the number $58,590.40.

This could potentially save close to $20,000 annually if other overtime (like from the police department) is kept in check.

This future employee’s salary, along with costs of a new voicemail system and 30 additional hours to janitorial staff, could be voted into the budget in Thursday night’s meeting. 

Last year’s budget was $2.495 million, a discrepancy of more than $160,000. A significant portion of that was a $37,000 reduction in “Small Items of Equipment” for Fire Protection and Control. The budget also reduced $27,000 from Contruction because the Activity Center was completed in the last fiscal year.

A $19,000 reduction in Road Oil and a $40,000 one in electric capital expense made other significant reductions to the budget, which is 93 percent of last year’s.  

Edit: In the print edition this story stated that Mayor Brown was in a traffic accident. That was inaccurate and The Western News apologizes for that mistake.