Council establishes street fund

Thursday, November 11, 2010

— Council members voted to set aside money for street repair in a separate fund, at a special meeting on Oct. 19.

In July the council voted to cap the contingency fund at $300,000 and start saving for a street repair fund. Several years ago the city was using contingency funds to help pay the bills, but because of the council’s adjustments the contingency fund is doing very well, according to Mayor Bill Montgomery. The city is able to put about $5,000 per month into the contingency fund, he said.

City Attorney TomSmith told the council at the July meeting that he usually recommends a city keep 20 to 25 percent of its annual budget in contingency, which the city had already exceeded.

A number of streets were in need of repair and overlay, but the street department had already used 50 percent of its budget in July.

Last month the contingency fund balance reached $300,000, Montgomery reported.

“I would like to commend the council because it’s the highest I’ve seen in my time as mayor,” he said.

Councilwoman Reagina Davis raised concerns that if the savings were put into the regular street fund they would be eaten away by expenses such as employees salaries. Davis suggested starting a separate account for the savings.

The council voted to approve the measure, and excesses will start going into the street repair fund next month.

In other business, the council voted to approve the 2008-2009 water audit report. Council members took a copy of the report home last month to read over before approving it.

There were a few general things that were addressed by the auditors,Montgomery said, but after reading the report, Montgomery said he didn’t see anything that was out of line.

Council members also passed Resolution R10-03 to continue the present tax rate of 5 percent. The city is required to declare a real and personal property tax rate for the County Quorum Court to consider at its next meeting, in order to get approval for next year's assessments.

“We’ve always kept it at 5 percent, I see no reason to change it,” Montgomery said.

News, Pages 2 on 11/10/2010