Tue, Oct 07 2008
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Published August 25, 2007 08:07 pm - It’s 402 pages and weighs 2.42 pounds. A Harry Potter novel it isn’t. It’s the $98 million proposed city budget and it will occupy the Joplin City Council for hours on multiple Monday nights between now and late October as council members decide what will be funded and what won’t in the next fiscal year, which starts Nov. 1. Joplin city staff proposes $98 million in spending w/ Leslie Jones audioBy Debby Woodin
dwoodin@joplinglobe.com It’s 402 pages and weighs 2.42 pounds. A Harry Potter novel it isn’t. It’s the $98 million proposed city budget and it will occupy the Joplin City Council for hours on multiple Monday nights between now and late October as council members decide what will be funded and what won’t in the next fiscal year, which starts Nov. 1. Operating expenses are proposed at slightly more than $65.5 million, up about $2 million from this fiscal year. The increase is driven largely by the costs of salaries and the addition of workers. The cost of building and maintaining capital assets is proposed at more than $32.4 million. The two categories mean total spending of $98,015,101, down more than $1 million from this fiscal year. Revenue is forecast at $89.2 million with fund balances at $76.2 million. Most of those fund balances are committed to voter-approved projects such as sewer construction. However some of the money can be transferred to cover other expenditures. City Manager Mark Rohr, in presenting the proposed budget to the council at a meeting Monday, wrote that the city’s key revenue source — sales taxes — was up an average of 2.6 percent over 10 years. He said that the estimated revenue increase in next year’s budget from taxes is placed at 2 percent because national economic indicators suggest only moderate gains. What will taxpayers get for their money? For the first time in several years, city staff proposes adding a number of new positions — 26 of them. Rohr said that the city in the last three years had not created new positions unless a department head could find a source of revenue to cover the cost. Most new positions go to public safety. Public safety Voters in November approved a half-cent public safety sales tax. It will pay for 16 of the new positions: 11 police officers, three firefighters, a dispatcher and radio technician. If approved by the council, the additions would bring the police department 19 new officers by the end of fiscal 2008. The tax is projected to raise $6.2 million for police and fire operations along with other safety projects, such as the installation of more street lights. 
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