Vienna approves $9.08M budget
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VIENNA -- In a short meeting the Vienna City Council Thursday approved the city's 2017-2018 budget in a unanimous vote.
Mayor Randy Rapp presented a resolution to the council for approval of the budget that totaled $9,085,363, which is $563,042 more than the 2016-2017 spending plan, or 6.6 percent.
Council approved the resolution to send the budget to the state for approval.
Rapp thanked Amy Roberts, finance director, and Councilman Roger Conley for their work on the budget.
"Thank you, Amy, for all your hard work and Roger thank you for working with Amy on this; it's a very difficult process to get through," he said. "For all you department heads, I appreciate all the work you did. I know some of the things in your lines did not get approved but we will work on that and we'll move on through the next year."
In revenue the city will receive $1,616,143 in property taxes, an increase of $32,593 from last year. In the coming year the city expects to collect $2,600,000, or $100,000 more than last year, in business and occupation taxes and $3,150,000, or $650,000 more, in sales tax.
On expenses the city will spend $1,193,140 for group health insurance, an increase of $255,178 from the previous year. Salaries and wages paid will be $2,679,99 for the next fiscal year, an increase of $118,890.
Pay to city officials will increase from $96,200 in the current budget to $109,200, an increase of $13,000.
Conley said he hopes to be more helpful in working on the next budget.
"I would like for us, council members and department heads, to think about the next 12 months and next year's budget and focus on cutting costs and reducing spending," he said. "We should all look at each line item of the budget next year with the intent of cutting costs, if at all possible."
Conley said there are places in any budget where spending can be curtailed.
"Rarely do you see a case where that can't be done, whether it's through duplicity, waste, better purchasing practices or manpower to name a few," he said. "When I say manpower I don't mean going out and getting rid of people. I mean through attrition, if you have someone who will retire or moving on to a new position, let's not automatically assume we have to backfill that spot. That may be what we'll have to do, but first try to redistribute the workload before we do that."
Conley added if that does not work then it is time to backfill the position.
The city is in a sound position and it is the council's responsibility to make sure it does not change, Conley said.