Teresa Williams
CNHI
THOMASVILLE —
The City of Cairo is ready to present a proposed fiscal year 2011 budget to the community.
The Cairo City Council will hold a public hearing during its 6 p.m. meeting Monday in order to listen to comments from residents about the proposed budget, approximately $36.1 million.
“We’ve got a preliminary budget pretty much complete,” City Manager Chris Addleton said Wednesday.
This proposed figure is $0.6 million less than last year’s budget of $36.7 million. At this time, no ad valorem tax increases and no utility rate changes are expected, city staff said.
“We had to do some cutting back,” Mayor Pro Tem Lannis Thornton said. “We put some things off and are trying to get our budget without raising taxes.
“So far, I think the process is going real good. One of the important things I think citizens should know is there is no intention right now to raise taxes.”
The budget process picked up in February, when the city began its strategic planning session to get long-term goals and priorities in place, city staff said.
Then, in March and April, staff went through department head budget meetings and the council held a budget workshop in late April.
Addleton said “all department heads came in with a frugal budget,” which meant he did not have to make a lot of further cuts.
“We did a lot of revenue projections and, based on those, put forth a cost budget in every department,” he said. “We’ve tried to be pretty tight the last couple of years and that has reflected in maintenance and operating budgets.”
He said the only thing unclear as of Wednesday is an expected increase in health care insurance. Information should be available within a week.
“Priorities in this year’s budget include a capital outlay plan,” Addleton said. “This is about $5.5 million and some major items are $2 million for a new water well and water plant, and $1 million for a new elevated water tank.”
Addleton said these water projects are needed to solve water issues and continue storm water master plan improvements.
“I think the water tank is one of the important things we are doing this year in the budget,” Thornton said. “We need to get more water pressure. I think if that happens, we may get more businesses to come in because we can supply enough water for them, which will bring in more jobs.”
Another priority is streets and sidewalks, Addleton said.
“The city wants to do projects related to resurfacing and using SPLOST 2008 monies productively,” he said.
One project the city decided to put off another year is a rehabilitation/replacement of the Seventh Avenue Lift Station.
“It collects waste water and pumps it to the waste water treatment plant,” Addleton said. “We will address it. It’s a $500,000 project that has been on our radar screen.”
Next steps in the city’s budget calendar include a budget approval and introduction of budget ordinance at the council’s regular June 14 meeting, followed by a called meeting June 15 to adopt the ordinance in accordance with the city’s charter.
