DECATUR -- The Decatur City Council received good news from Mayor Charles Linam concerning the 2013 budget during the Jan. 13 meeting in the council chamber at city hall.
Linam reported that all the departments came in under budget for the 2013 fiscal year.
The departments are broken down into five units which include administrative, fire, police, parks and recreation, and library. The city's street, water, and waste water are separate accounts, but they also came in under budget.
The city's administration budget, which covers such items as building upkeep, court salaries, new equipment and other items, projected expenditures of $252,400 for 2013. The amount spent was $213,744.63. This translates into a use of only 85 percent of the 2013 budget.
Of the remaining four departments, the library, while still under budget, had the highest expense rate, at 91 percent. This was due to building upkeep, equipment repair and utilities.
The exact saving for the city of Decatur will be determined during the 2013 budgetary audit which will be completed in mid-February.
In other city council business, the council voted to fill the assistant fire chief position with the promotion of Jeremy Luker to fire chief on Jan. 1, with Brent Hopkins promoted to assistant chief. Hopkins will assume his duties immediately.
The council approved an ordinance amending the city's 2013 budget to reflect actual expenditures during 2013, necessary because of changes in the 2013 street department budget. The city expected to receive $67,000 in grant money from the Arkansas Highway Transportation Department during 2013, money to cover the costs to build the sidewalk down Roller Ave. That money was not received in 2013 but is expected in the current year.
The council also passed an a resolution accepting and adopting a budget for 2014.
The Decatur Police Department received 82 calls for service during December.
The Decatur Fire Department responded to 21 first responder calls and 15 fire calls in December.
General News on 01/22/2014