WATERVILLE — The City Council on Tuesday is scheduled to vote to declare an emergency to authorize money to be spent to keep the city operating after June 30, the end of the city’s fiscal year.
The special meeting will be at 6:30 p.m. and may be viewed via a link on the city’s website.
The reason for the vote is that councilors do not yet know what the city will receive for funding from the state and are opting to delay approving a proposed $46.6 million municipal and school budget until they have that information. That proposed budget for 2021-22 represents a $2.2 million increase over the current budget but with revenues and tax increment financing funds, the tax rate is not expected to change from the current $25.76 per $1,000 worth of property valuation, according to City Manager Steve Daly.
Councilors had hoped to vote on the budget Tuesday but in the absence of revenue information, they decided to wait. They plan to discuss the budget Tuesday night, however.
Daly said he and the council probably will talk about the overall budget, where it stands, what changes have occurred since the last time they discussed it and possible revenues. It will be an educational and philosophical discussion, he said.
“It’s going to be more about how the budget is constructed and what the costs are and how we’re paying for it,” he said.
The council several weeks ago had proposed putting seven new positions in the budget, but Council Chairman Erik Thomas, D-Ward 7, said Wednesday that the only new positions in the proposed budget now are three firefighter-emergency medical technicians.
Other new positions, including an assistant city manager, could be added to the budget if amendments are proposed and approved, according to Thomas.
The proposed budget is expected to help fund city operating costs and capital needs that have gone unaddressed for many years in the city. Money from tax increment financing districts is available to fund a variety of projects, including those related to economic development and infrastructure. An issue that has been talked about frequently is the need to address roads and sidewalks in and around the downtown area, including in the city’s South End, and TIF money would make that possible.
The council is scheduled to take two votes Tuesday related to authorizing spending into the new fiscal year to keep the city and school operating until the budget is finalized.
The first vote would authorize the declaring of an emergency to preserve public health and safety. The resolution says that the council will not have passed a budget for fiscal year 2021-22 by July 1 and there is no spending authority for the city and school department operations after July 1. Certain city functions are essential in preserving the health and safety of the city’s residents, it says.
The second vote would authorize emergency funding for city and schools from July 1, 2021, until a new budget is approved. The funding would be at the same levels as the current budget allows.
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