Gentry council amends 2014 budget, adopts new budget for the new year

GENTRY -- City Council, on Jan. 5, amended last year's budget, adopted a new budget and passed on its first reading an ordinance amending ward boundaries for 2015 to adjust for population changes resulting from the annexation of land into the city which was approved in the November election.

With two resolutions, the council unanimously amended last year's budget to reflect actual expenditures and adopted a new budget for 2015.

The amended 2014 budget reflects an additional $465,725.80 in income, making the total income $2,772,615.80 with total expenses adjusted downward by $646,934.47, reflecting money budgeted but not spent and leaving a year-end budget surplus of $267,772.80. The large-ticket over-budget expenditures were already approved by the council at meetings prior to the expense being incurred.

The new budget for 2015 anticipates $1.3 million in incoming revenue for the General Fund during 2015 and expenditures of $1.56 million. In the County Tax Fund, the city anticipates $520,300 in income and has budgeted expenditures at $581,500.

In the Library Fund, the city anticipates income of $104,500 and has budgeted for expenditures of $120,140.

In the Solid Waste Fund, expenses were set at $9,080 with income anticipated at $8,400.

In the Street and Alley Fund, income was anticipated at $452,500, with expenses budgeted at $1,122,985. Water and Sewer Fund budget figures show incoming revenue at $4,431,743 with budgeted expenses set at $4,124,971.

The above figures do not reflect the large fund balances carried over from 2014 to 2015 or projects funded in the 2014 budget but carried over into 2015 -- the repair, resealing and repainting of the city water tanks project budgeted in 2014 but scheduled to be done in 2015 is one such example

According to Gentry mayor, Kevin Johnston, the 2015 budget was calculated with a buffer and expenditures were set to leave a carryover amount of near 10 percent of anticipated incoming revenue in most funds. By budgeting incoming revenue conservatively and keeping budgeted expenditures close to 90 percent of budgeted carryover and incoming revenue, the city provides itself a double protection against ever spending more than it takes in or not having funds for emergencies.

Also approved by the council, unanimously, was a resolution accepting new salary schedules for the city. The salary schedules set the salaries for all the city's employees and is available at City Hall.

The council passed on its first reading an ordinance adjusting ward boundaries to make them of equal population numbers following the annexation of land on the southeast side of the city which was approved in the November election.

James Furgason was the only alderman to vote against the new ward map. Furgason said he voted against the change in ward boundaries because he was elected to represent all the constituents in Ward 1 who elected him, and the adjustment would move some of those constituents out of his ward and into Ward 2. Furgason said he visited with those constituents before the election and felt it was his duty to represent them.

The redistricting map was provided to the city by the Northwest Arkansas Regional Planning Commission. The ordinance will have to be approved on two more readings before it becomes law.

After a public hearing at which no one contested the city's stated intent, the council approved a resolution to petition the court to attach a cleanup lien of $6,900, plus administrative costs, upon property located at 510 W. Main Street to cover the costs for demolishing and removing a building which had been damaged by fire and continued to be in violation of city safety codes.

In order to have approved professionals for small, day-to-day operations, the council approved Terrel Shields of Siloam Springs as appraiser; Civil Engineering, Inc., Siloam Springs, Engineering Services, Inc., Springdale, and McClelland Consulting Engineers, Fayetteville, for contract negotiations (in the above order) to be the city's civil engineer for small, day-to-day needs; and James Surveying and Consultants, Inc., Gentry, Engineering Services, Inc., Springdale, and CEI, Bentonville, for contract negotiations (in the above order) to serve as the city's surveyor for small, day-to-day needs.

With Warren Norman passing and James Furgason voting no because he wanted more time to review the ordinance and its proposed zoning changes, the council passed on three readings with a single vote an ordinance amending the city's zoning district table to fix errors in the city's zoning law and to restore into the code adopted changes which were apparently omitted when the city's ordinances were placed into the city code book. The zoning corrections were recommended by the city's planning and zoning commission after months of study.

Furgason requested passing the ordinance on its first reading to allow more time for council members to carefully review it before making it law. The decision to proceed in adopting the zoning changes immediately was based, at least in part, upon the need to have the changes in place to allow for work to begin on new restrooms in the city park.

Also approved by the council were resolutions keeping the structure of meetings at they were in 2014 and keeping meeting times at 6:30 p.m. on the first Monday of each month in the Gentry Council Chambers, except that the meeting which would have fallen on Labor Day will be held on the Tuesday prior to Labor Day, and appointing James Kooistra, Wanda Meyer and Mike Parks to new terms on the city's planning and zoning commission.

General News on 01/14/2015