CRESTVIEW — Residents expecting an indication of how Crestview will address budget shortfalls and deferred maintenance won't receive much satisfaction after Monday’s budget workshop.
However, they will learn at least one expense has fallen, City Clerk Betsy Roy said. “We have lower (health) insurance rates, so that’s going to help the budget,” she said.
Current projections show without city employee raises, the general fund budget, which includes city departments and most services — such as police, fire, public works and the library — will rise $8,873,674 to $15.3 million in the 2015-16 budget year, but Roy said those figures may change.
“We’re still working through the budget process,” she said. “Everybody’s going back and reanalyzing: ‘What can I live without?’ ‘What do I absolutely have to have?’ There may be things they can put off for another year.”
However, Roy and several department heads have warned the City Council that by deferring equipment upgrades and putting off maintenance to machinery and roads, the city is getting into a situation where it will be unable to catch up.
Department heads also realize the council is responsible for managing taxpayers’ dollars, Roy said. “That’s their job,” she said. “They have to look out for the money.”
The next public budget workshop is 3 p.m. Aug. 20 at Crestview City Hall on Wilson Street.
The city’s preliminary general fund budget for the next fiscal year, starting Oct. 1, is as follows. (Change from the 2014-15 budget appears in parenthesis)*
●Total general fund: $15.3 million (+$873,674)
●General administration: $1.4 million (-$109,753)
●Mayor’s office: $90,367 (-$9,545)
●City Clerk: $261,384 (-$1,957)
●Public Works administration: $373,976 (-$4,688)
●Maintenance: $177,476 (+$29,385)
●Police: $4.1 million (+$41,311)
●Fire: $3.8 million (+$313,917)
●Leisure Services: $470,108 (+$38,604)
●Streets: $1.76 million (+$389,270)
●Library: $689,237 (+$12,489)
●Code Enforcement: $119,164 (+$12,423)
●Community Center: $31,514 (+$3,094)
●Building/Facility maintenance: $1 million (+$103,959)
●Finance: $262,018 (-$5,084)
●Planning and Zoning: $446,775 (+$88,764)
●Building and Permits: $273,042 (-$28,515)
*City Clerk Betsy Roy said some departments are re-evaluating their requested budgets.
These figures do not include city employee raises.
CRESTVIEW'S 2015-16 BUDGET
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview continues 2015-16 budgeting process