Colfax council discusses budget

COLFAX — the City Council met for its first 2023 budget workshop Monday, Oct 3.

Officials said this year’s fiscal plan is harder to develop due to inflation.

In discussing the parks budget, officials said irrigation costs remained the same, but they expect maintenance of about $20,000.

Parks revenue comes from the general fund, including property and sales taxes.

The city has $1.2 million in discretionary funds, as well, officials said.

The general fund also pays for police and fire departments, which are expected to cost $200,000.

There is $232,000 in revenue in reserves in the park budget, officials said, noting that city policy requires 35% of annual expenses to be saved in the reserve account.

It was noted that the city needs more than $232,000 for the pool upgrade.

In discussion of streets, city officials notied inflation in fuel and utility costs are projecting higher.

There may be a need to be an increase to the small tool budget, officials said, noting three remains $45,000 in revenue in street funds this year because of a grant.

The city paid for the sign for the crosswalk, two crosswalks and three radars with the grant.

The street department is also looking into getting a new loader, officials said.

Additional expenses include hardware and concrete.

The city plans to purchase 13 garbage cans, at a price of $8,000.

The city has proposed a tentative $34,000 street budget; it was noted that there is not a lot of change expected.

The city applied for a grant for Morton Street improvements; an allocation is expected to be announced in November.

The Morton Street project could take until 2024, officials said.

In other street expenses, public works crews have done some hole-patching.

The department plans to bring in more asphalt next week.

Workers are also working on repairing water line water leaks.

City officials said the department would like to bring in a new crew member to lessen the workload on current employees. If approved, that would add one new staffer to the payroll.

Officials said that could pose an issue as the street budget is extremely tight.

There is $100,000 budgeted for this year, officials said.

In other items, diesel dumps are assumed to be complete by Dec. 31, and expenses could be pushed into 2023.

Officials said $10,000 is needed to rebuild the pump’s street booster.

The city is looking at a capital equipment budget of $242,000.

The wastewater budget is also being affected by inflation.

Insurance is costing more and fuel is up 14%, officials said, noting salaries are up 10%.

Public works plans a manhole rehabilitation, since the street is made up of old brick, officials said. Purchasing of a new loader would benefit this.

In mentioning stormwater, council members discussed that there were no big changes, or expenses expected.

However, segments of the concrete channel were broken during the heatwave this year.

The last bid on panel replacement was $80,000 two years ago. Although there is no extreme damage reported, the concrete is spoiling and rebar is exposed, officials said.

The City Council will meet in a second budget workshop from 5:30-6:30 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 17.