A look at the City of Kimball budget as process wraps up for fiscal year

This budget process for the City of Kimball is nearly complete. The public hearing for the budget was held Tuesday.

The budget for the coming fiscal year shows proposed shortfalls built into the budget that can be attributed to funds that are coming in but cannot yet be accounted for, while the expenditures that are planned must be accounted for on the written budget if the city wants to use those funds.

A final breakdown of departments throughout the city:

General budget

“I think under the general combined for next year, if all expenses come true there is a deficit of $20,000,” said City Administrator Daniel Ortiz.

One area the council discussed cutting was the line item for equipment and repairs, with $10,000 budgeted last year and for the coming year, and just $73.59 spent.

Kimball Library budget

Library Director Jan Sears asked the board to consider giving librarian Jamie Carpenter a higher salary in the coming budget.

“She is so talented and has made the library a star,” Sears said. “I don’t think it is any secret anymore, but she is looking for another job. She needs a full-time job, or she needs more wages. To replace her or to try to keep her...she just doesn’t get paid enough.”

Following discussion about the low speed of internet at the library, it was decided to increase the budget for telephone service to allow for higher speed internet.

Power plant budget

The power plant is not currently fully staffed, as is the line crew and the water department.

“In consideration of where our finances are at, we are kind of holding off on filling in the employees on the line crew and the water department at the time being. Those are two crews that are used extensively,” Ortiz stated.

Cemetery budget

The proposed budget for last year matched exactly the proposed budget for this year, with a planned shortfall of more than $93,000.

The cemetery is currently nearly on target with income, at 88 percent of the planned income at 85 percent through the fiscal year. The actual expenses have barely hit 60 percent of planned expenses.

Staffing changes at the cemetery cut the benefits line item slightly short for the department, according to Ortiz. The cemetery crew also assists with emergency shut-offs, reconnects and meter reading, as well, particularly in the winter when they are not as busy with their additional duties on the parks and recreation department.

“We were just pushing that amount originally, this fiscal year I had originally increased it,” Ortiz said. “So the overall budget for the cemetery, I went ahead and budgeted additional sales tax into that, so you saw an increase from $89,000 to $108,900.”

Parks and recreation

Parks and recreation department superintendent Jeremy Williams said that he is considering using the $10,000 budgeted for a new vehicle to purchase a utility vehicle that can be shared between the park and recreation department and the cemetery.

“It’s the same with the backhoe, if I need the backhoe out at the golf course, I borrow that,” Williams said. “We try to keep our heads above water basically.”

Parks department

The parks department is funded largely by sales tax receipts, according to Ortiz, although traditionally some Keno funds have also been used.

“The capital expenditures, we generally budgeted $10,000 for park improvements and generally covers anything from picnic tables to sinks,” Ortiz said.

The council further discussed cutting some funding for training, though they want to ensure that safety training does not suffer.

Street department

“This is probably where you’re seeing the biggest change in terms of revenue and expenses. Look at last fiscal year of revenues of $2 million and expenses of $2.2 million,” Ortiz said. “The biggest change for that was the change with our agreement with NDOR pertaining to the underpass project, whereas the original agreement entailed that the city would cover the initial expenses and then get reimbursed, and we switched that so that NDOR covers the expenses and then we reimburse them. So we don’t have to have that big of a budget there.”

Vetting for the underpass project is expected to begin in the fall of 2016 with construction to begin in the spring of 2017. Because the way that gets paid, the city has a certain amount of time to save and plan for those costs.

The fully-staffed street department is one of just a few that is not operating in the negative currently, with a $242,000 “profit.” Though they have projects to complete, the funds are available for that work.

Swimming pool

The swimming pool, another department funding largely by sales tax receipts, opened this year with a planned loss of $153,250 but closed with a deficit of just $2,782.75. These numbers are not final, but they are very close.

“Everybody knows that pools just cost money. So if you budget $32,000 then that tells you how many days you can be open if you are full-staffed,” said city councilman John Morrison. “She shut down two weeks earlier than she usually does.”

Repairs for the swimming pool are still needed and to that end, the suggested budget for that purpose is $50,000 this coming fiscal year.

Event center

The event center is currently showing a profit, but once the $125,000 in state funds earmarked for needed updating is factored in, the expenses are $108,000 with $96,000 in revenue.

The required improvements will bring the facility up to fire code and the Americans with Disabilities Act, for which the council has budgeted $650,000.

Fitness center

The fitness center does not receive revenues from the city in the form of taxes, but instead is completely funded by memberships.

At 85 percent of the fiscal year, the fitness center was operating at a loss of $1,694.68.

Fire maintenance

The fire department is currently operating at a profit of $12,353, though next year the budget includes a shortfall of more than $22,500. Additionally, the budget for fire equipment shows planned revenues of $9,000 this coming fiscal year.

Police department

Despite early warnings of budget concerns when the department was purchasing a dog for the new canine program, the Kimball Police Department was operating at a profit of $444,614.20 in late August.

This also despite revenues that were not equivalent to expected revenues at 85 percent into the fiscal year.

“We do need to budget for insurance and vet fees for that one dog that is working for the city right now,” police chief Darren Huff said.

Additionally, though the city did pay the initial expenses for training for Captain Andy Bremer and K9 Xana, those expenses were reimbursed completely by grant money.