The East Carbon City Council welcomed a number of community members during Tuesday’s regularly scheduled meeting.
Many of the attendees were eager to participate in the public hearing and discussion regarding the 2019-20 budget for the city. Mayor David Avery opened the hearing at the beginning of the meeting and gave some highlights of the budget, stating that the city will carry over revenue from the B&C Roads in the amount of $102,400.
At the time that the budgets were printed, the city was considering a 3% raise in wages and a $.50 per hour wage increase. That was not finalized and the council will consider those increases while moving through the year.
The general fund now includes the wellness center, which has been an issue on paper for a number of years, meaning that the wellness fund will now be closed as it is included in the general. Also included in the general fund are transfers from the water fund, garbage fund and capital projects, all equaling approximately $151,000.
The recorder department will see an increase of $2,000 for training. Similarly, the East Carbon Police Department will see a $4,000 increase for training.
The parks department as well as the cemetery department will see slight changes as the city is in charge of paying for the water at each location. The placement of new trees to assist the old ones was also discussed as well as repairing some trails in the city. Non-departmental was dropped and moved to other locations.
Mayor Avery then did a brief breakdown of how much monies will be in each city department, for certain employees and more. In total, there will be about 1.7 million in anticipated revenue.
There was a brief explanation from Mayor Avery regarding the work that is being done to get the city entirely out of debt, which is projected to happen in about five years. While there were brief questions from the attendees, such as the closing of certain funds and the planting of trees, ultimately the public hearing was closed and the budget was approved by the council.