City council adopts FY 2023 budget

The budget also reflects funds that will go toward much-needed police vehicles. 

   “We didn’t take the three percent a couple years ago. At the beginning of COVID, the state offered to pay for police wages to the tune of $290,000, COVID money the state received from the government,” he told the Weiser Signal American. “The trouble is, we couldn’t add that three percent back later on. We knew losing the ability to increase a full three percent would hurt us a little in the long run, but we thought that the short-term benefit to our taxpayers more than offset the slightly lower income later.

 “The problem is that people saw their taxes go back up the next year and they thought we were raising them and that wasn’t the case. We lowered the taxes by $290,000 the year before, but had to raise them back up the following year. The police still had to be paid.”

 As for the three percent increase, Hibberd cited rising costs and other factors.

 City employees will receive a nine percent wage increase in 2023, a move justified by the loss of employees to higher paying jobs in other areas.

 “What we were experiencing is that with other businesses raising wages, some of our employees were getting picked off,” Hibberd said. “For most of our positions, it takes a lot of training to get people to the point where we need them to be. So, as an incentive to keep the employees we have, we did raise wages nine percent. Normally, we raise it three percent every year to adjust for the cost of living. However, the decision was made and backed by the city council to raise wages across the board by nine percent. To be able to balance the budget, all step increases (which acknowledge increased skill and knowledge) that people would normally be eligible for next year  we put off for one year. Usually, the step increases are about seven percent. We put those off for a year but, still, people are getting more than what they would have. This move has essentially stopped the outflow of employees. We consider our employees  to be a very valuable asset and we don’t want to lose them.”

 Overall, it appears that the city will be significantly dipping into reserves for FY2023.

 “One thing I will say on the budget is that because we can’t spend more than what is budgeted, we tend to pad it a little bit on the heavy side, so please don’t be too much alarmed if it looks like we are going into the negative,” Hibberd said. 

  He added that some other factors, when taking a look at the budget, include funds received from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) and a new lift truck needed for city services.

   “In 2021, we received word that we would be receiving ARPA funds from the feds that could be used toward water, sewer, or broadband infrastructure,” Hibberd said. “We received $578,000 in FY2021 and another $578,000 this summer for FY2022. We put one year’s funds in the water department’s coffers and the other funds in the sewer department. Those funds have not yet been spent. However, the intended projects are in FY2023’s budget.

  “So, since the income is not included in this year’s budget, but the $1,156,000 in expenses are shown for this year, it appears we are overspending in this year’s budget.

   “With the electrical department, we are going to be over budget because we have budgeted $275,000 on a bucket truck.”

  Hibberd said the city’s current bucket truck is about 20 years old and is not as stable on its platforms as it once was.

 “We would rather not have our guys working on even a slightly unsteady platform when they are working with electricity, so a new truck is in order,” he said. “We  have been saving up for that, so we are spending it out of reserves. Currently, there is about $2.5 million in reserves for that. All in all, despite the negative projections, we should be pretty close to breaking even, and possibly in the black by the time the FY 2024 budget rolls around.”