Council Begins Work on Proposed $14.1 Million Budget
By Julie Perine on March 04, 2015 via Connect-Bridgeport.com
Every March, Bridgeport City Council delves into the process of setting the city’s budget for the upcoming fiscal year.
That process begins Wednesday night as Council will gather at Bridgeport City Hall to begin work on a proposed $14.1 million budget. But unlike previous years, the group is not starting with a balanced budget.
“It’s a totally different approach than we’ve done before,” said Recorder Melissa Matheny. “Normally, we don’t see all of the department head requests. Rather, we see what the city manager feels is priority as far as those requests are concerned and we receive a balanced budget from him and (Finance Director) Monica (Musgrave), then go through and make changes.”
Council has for the past several years been requesting that the budget be handled in this fashion, Matheny said.
“(City Manager) Kim (Haws) decided to give it a try,” she said. “And I’m pretty excited about it.”
As Council will be involved in the process from the beginning stages, it may take a number of sessions to complete it, Matheny said.
“It will be a couple of weeks in the works,” she said. “And we’re starting a couple weeks earlier than we usually do.”
The finalized budget must be approved by Council and submitted to the state by the end of the month.
At the present time, the budget includes no capital projects.
"No capital projects have been included in the budget yet because we haven’t received revenue totals yet," said City Clerk Andrea Kerr. "So the proposed document is strictly an operating budget for now."
The working budget does include a number of requests received from various city department heads. Several different departments have requested additional personnel, Matheny said.
At last week's City Council meeting, Haws mentioned the following items:
- Public works is asking for two employees to mow grass and keep the streets clean. They are also asking for an employee to take camera images of utility lines.
- The Fire Chief is asking for six firefighters; two per shift. The chief is looking into revenue sources right now to support their salaries.
- Kerr is being promoted to director of marketing and promotions. She will keep her City Clerk roll. However, administrative support is being addressed.
- The finance director has requested a part-time employee and the city manager/city clerk's office is also in need of a part-time employee;
- Administration is recommending a one percent raise for all employees, as well as a step increase of one percent, making the total pay increase per employee two percent.
The first budget session will begin 6 p.m. Wednesday at Council Chambers. Discussions will continue 6 p.m. Monday, March 9 prior to the regularly scheduled Council meeting.
Editor's Note: Pictured from top: Haws, Musgrave and Councilor Dustin Vincent; Vincent, Councilor Darrell Bowen and Matheny. Photos by Jeff Toquinto.
