| 3 min | from Mayor Shawn Keough |
Mayor Shawn Keough submitted his report to the Dexter City Council at its May 11 meeting via Zoom. Below is an excerpt. The Mayor’s entire report can be found on the city’s website.
Hello Residents and Council,
It’s time to prepare the Budget for Fiscal Year 2020 – 2021
While the majority of focus these days has been spent on activities related to the COVID – 19 virus, our City staff have spent the month of April preparing a draft budget for the City’s next fiscal year. City Council, along with the City Manager and her team, reviewed a draft budget for the next fiscal year 2020 – 2021, which will begin on July 1, 2020.
We met publicly on Wednesday, April 29th (via Zoom), and reviewed a draft budget for the next two fiscal years for our General Fund, Special Revenue Funds, Debt Service Funds, Capital Projects Funds, Major, Local & Municipal Streets Funds and Water & Sewer Funds. The draft budget was very well prepared by our staff. 6 of 7 City Council members were able to attend along with several of our department heads. We have a very talented group of employees and their presentation of a balanced budget was very well done (especially considering it was a first draft).
The budget contains all the typical revenue and expenditures that are required in order to provide the services that our residents expect. It was noted that our monthly solid waste charge will likely need to be increased (from $22.50 to potentially $25.00 per month) due to the recent increases in our garbage, recycling and yard waste contract. Part of this increase is also due to an increased focus by our department of public works staff in areas such as leaf collection and brush pickup.
Key projects that have been included in the draft budget include the Mill Creek Park Phase 2 Path project (carry over from this fiscal year), some improvements and clean up to the hillside behind the Farmer’s market and street improvements on Grand and Hudson Street.
We will also be initiating the planning and design of street and infrastructure improvements at Broad and Third, as well as several maintenance projects to care for our water and sewer infrastructure.
One key area that Council will be discussing at Budget Review Workshop #2 (planned for May 13th) is how much to raise our water and sewer rates for the upcoming fiscal year beginning July 1, 2020. With the financial impact of the COVID – 19 virus creating some uncertainty for many residents and businesses, we are looking closely at how much the Water and Sewer rate increases should be.
At the same time, we need to protect the integrity and long term stability of both of these enterprise funds and the reserve amounts in each fund. Enterprise funds, like the water and sewer funds, are required to generate their own revenue through user rates and that revenue is expected to be enough to cover the costs incurred in those funds.
Our recent project at our wastewater treatment plant will require a fairly sizeable increase in sewer rates for the next few years in order to avoid drawing down our Sewer Fund reserves. Part of the challenge Council and staff have in making the decision on how much the increase should be is due to the fact that we are all generally using less water these days. The City’s water and sewer rates are based on an estimate of water usage. We will continue our discussion of these rates at our next budget review session.
COVID – 19 Preparedness – Prepare, Prepare, Prepare for Change
The month of May has already started with updated orders from the Governor that will allow a small uptick in our economy and activity. With the expectation that warmer weather is ahead of us, we will also see an increase in the amount of people outside using our parks, trails, and public spaces. I want to encourage everyone to be prepared for the likelihood of seeing more people and being around more people.
Please continue to practice safe protocols to help prevent the spread of the virus. Wearing masks and maintaining social distancing is still important and necessary. Please try to keep your kids away from the play equipment. It is not sanitized and we are encouraging people not to use these facilities. I want to say thank you to everyone who continues to wave out on the trails and who say hello as they pass by our home.
I look forward to future times where we can stop and chat longer. On behalf of the entire City Council and our staff, we appreciate everyone’s cooperation during these tough times. Please stay safe at home. Get some exercise and fresh air when you can and check in on someone you care about.
Thank you all for your patience with us through all of this.
I look forward to seeing you around our town (but only from 6 feet away)!
All the best to everyone!
Shawn Keough
Mayor, City of Dexter
