FAIRMONT– Ahead of the regular meeting, the Fairmont City Council held a work session on Monday to discuss the preliminary 2023 budget.

City Administrator Cathy Reynolds said as staff looked at the budget, they tried to focus on maintaining what’s existing and not looking to add new. They also looked at the strategic plan and its goals and objectives.

“One of the underlying goals… is knowing all of the adjustments needed in regards to the general fund with inflation and cost of goods and prices. Our objective was to do a flat capital budget,” Reynolds explained.

She said the proposed and preliminary budget has a debt service, capital and EDA levies remaining steady and flat from 2022 to 2023. The operation, or general fund, was at $3.5 million in 2022 but has been bumped up to $3.9 million for 2023, which is a 6.7 percent increase.

“The bulk of those increases really comes from the cost of supplies when we look at natural gas and fuel for all of the vehicles we operate. Personnel costs, we’re looking at healthcare costs and worker’s compensation costs along with the comp and class study that is being completed and the cost to implement that,” Reynolds said.

City Finance Director, Paul Hoye, said they were trying to keep the property tax levies as low as they could so they didn’t adjust the capital levy, which is a little over $903,000.

Hoye said they’d be going over some projects with the Public Utilities Commission when they propose the 2023 budget to it later this fall. On Monday he focused on department budgets that fall under the general fund.

Under general government buildings, Hoye said they have $500,000 budgeted for city hall security and accessibility, which was determined as needed during a facility assessment. He said the other large project under general government buildings is a new roof on the Martin County Library in Fairmont, the cost of which would be shared with the county.

As for public safety departments, police and fire, there were a number of projects included, like equipment, squad replacement, radio and gear replacement.

Mayor Deb Foster explained that the budget is built with recommendations from the different departments and what they’ve determined they need.

For the public works department, which includes streets and engineering, Hoye said there’s some bigger equipment purchases. He also said 2023 will be a bonding year for the street improvement projects and that $3.5 million is being set aside to complete some street improvements.

Moving to the park department, Hoye said the biggest projects planned for 2023 surround Gomsrud Park, the boat landing and the parking lot. There is a preliminary number but final designs are still being worked on.

“For the funding of those larger projects, right now we have plugged in showing that the Fairmont Community Center group would come up with the $6 million in donations so we’re showing $6 million coming from private donations and $4 million coming from sales tax. We did show $850,000 being used from sales tax for Gomsrud Park,” Hoye said.

He said the council had previously dedicated $14 million of the $15 million for the community center and that $150,000 has already been set aside for the Amber Lake boat ramp.

Council Member Michele Miller said, “Talking about parks and recreational… I really think as a council we need to start being more fiscally responsible and maybe think about the resolution 2019-58 and not designate the whole $15 million to a community center, to one building that we do not know for sure is going to be open in five years and utilize the SMEC building and start there.”

She spoke of some other park projects that need to be done and also said she has received a number of phone calls and emails from community members who do not want to pay more taxes for another building.

Hoye pointed out that there are a number of park ideas and requests that have been identified by staff or members of the Park Board for potential projects that have not been included in the budget. They total almost $3.2 million.

“If the council did decide to fund any of these projects, then we’d be looking at raising our levy for capital projects.” Hoye said.

Reynolds said this was the time for council to say whether it wanted any other projects brought into the 2023 budget. She mentioned the Sylvania Park Bandshell rehab, which the Park Board has recommended as a 2023 project. She said staff is looking at is as a potential 2024 project.

Miller said she wished they could do all of the projects and it was unfortunate they were using so much money on one project. She said she thought taking the local options sales tax revenue and spreading it over multiple projects would be a better idea.

“I do not support increasing the budget at this point when you’re working hard to keep it pretty level and avoid tax increases if possible,” Miller said.

Council Member Britney Kawecki asked if the amount of $450,000 was to do the entire Sylvania Park Bandshell rehab, to which Reynolds said yes. Kawecki then asked if they had considered just doing a portion of the rehab, for roof repairs, and tackle the rest later.

Council Member Randy Lubenow, who sits on the Park Board, said they had been given figures for different rehab projects at the park. He agreed that the roof needs attention.

Council Member Bruce Peters said he was in favor of putting the roof work in the budget, to which Kawecki agreed. Hoye said there’s potential for them to use general fund reserves for that project.

Reynolds said at the next council meeting on Aug. 22, they will see a presentation on the comp and class study.

“If you’re satisfied with where that’s going… that will help us work to on finalize the numbers that we need on the operations side. That’s the next step as we look at evaluating this,” Reynolds said.