After years of pay freezes, rising sales tax revenue has allowed city officials to offer employees raises in the upcoming fiscal year.
At the May 21 Springfield City Council meeting, Finance Director Mary Mannix Decker introduced the city’s $310 million fiscal 2013 budget, a 4.3 percent increase compared to fiscal 2012. The proposed budget allows for merit-pay step increases, 1.5 percent pay raises for city employees and the hiring of 18 employees for the $3.3 million Doling Aquatics Center and the $5.2 million Dan Kinney Family Center, both under construction and scheduled for completion in December. In total, the proposal calls for adding 34 positions to city staff.
Council is expected to vote on the budget at its June 4 meeting.
The fiscal 2013 budget – which begins July 1 – is bolstered by a projected 3 percent growth in sales tax revenue. The projected rate increase for fiscal 2012 was 1.7 percent, and actual revenue exceeded the budget estimate by $2.9 million, which allowed one-time purchases of Police and Fire service vehicles and an increase to the city’s rainy-day fund to 19 percent of revenue.
For the fiscal 2013 budget, city officials are requesting across-the-board employee pay raises for the first time in four years. Merit step increases were restored in fiscal 2012 and extended in the proposed budget at a cost of $775,000 to general revenue. City Manager Greg Burris said in his budget letter to council that the moves were important for the city as it works to retain top employees.
“With approximately 45 percent of our full-time employees at their top step in the merit step system, an across-the-board increase is strongly supported by the city’s leadership team,” Burris said in the letter.
Other items in the proposed budget:
- The city has entered into an amended consent judgment with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, which has approved the city’s Early Action Program, allowing $50 million to be spent during the next seven years to improve sanitary sewer collection and reduce sanitary system overflows. The fiscal 2013 budget also adds 16 positions to the city’s Clean Water Services division of the Environmental Services Department.
- The city’s Employee Wellness Program, which was restored in fiscal 2012, would be extended in fiscal 2013 at a cost of $30,000. An additional $35,000 would be set aside to allow employees to join the Park Board’s family centers at a discounted rate.
- Sales and use taxes amount to 35.4 percent of the budget’s revenue, while charges and fees account for 25.1 percent. Of the appropriations, special revenue takes up the largest portion of the budget at 31 percent; enterprise spending amounts to 25.4 percent; and the general fund accounts for 23.4 percent.
After weeks of budget hearings, no council members spoke against the city manager’s proposed budget.
Mayor pro temJeff Seifried, the newest member of council, was selected as mayor pro tem at the May 21 meeting. Two members asked to be considered for the post – Seifried and Doug Burlison – and with six of the votes, Seifried took the position vacated by Mayor Pro Tem Stephens, who replaced Jim O’Neal as mayor. O’Neal resigned at the May 7 meeting.
Seifried said his position as the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce regional development manager gives him the flexibility to attend a variety of events in the new role.
“I feel like I have a good understanding of the operations of the city,” Seifried said. “I’ve had the opportunity to sit down and meet with all 23 department [leaders] within the city, and that has given me a good grasp of the issues. And then, I have been working with (Stephens); he’s been a mentor during the last several months.”
Westport WoodsThe developers behind the Westport Woods apartment complex – proposed just north of Westport Park in west Springfield – are asking council to approve a bill that would get them off the hook for constructing an extension of West College Street between North Golden and North Hilton avenues.
Springfield Planning and Development Director Ralph Rognstad said the city has a longstanding policy of requiring street access in developments where connectivity is an issue.
Plans for Westport Woods approved by council in July 2011 included an extension of College Street.
On May 3, the Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously denied the variance proposal, but last week council appeared receptive to Joe and Marie Carmichael, developers of the 46-unit apartment complex.
The apartments, a project of the Carmichaels’ Affordable Homes Development Inc., would provide housing for tenants who earn between 60 percent and 80 percent of the median income in Greene County.
The bill is scheduled for a second reading and vote at the June 4 meeting.[[In-content Ad]]
