City Council to vote itself $6,000 pay increase

Lazaro Aleman, ECB Publishing, Inc.

In a barely attended workshop recently, a fraction of the Monticello City Council reviewed and tentatively approved the budget and millage rate for the coming fiscal year (FY), in the process setting up a scenario where each council member will receive a $1,200 pay increase.
Two of the council members, Julie Conley and Steve Rissman were not present, and those present – Troy Avera, John Jones and George Evans – never addressed the issue of their pay increase during the hourlong workshop.
They instead discussed the pay increase for city employees, the contributions to nonprofits, the fund for downtown improvements, and the establishment of a $1,500 incentive for the garbage department.
The $1,200 pay increase, if approved at the final public hearing on Sept. 24 or 25 (the date has yet to be finalized), will increase each council members' annual pay from the current $5,000 to $6,200, for a total budget line item of $31,000 from the current $21,200.
The reason why it's currently $21,200 instead of $25,000, is that Councilman Steve Rissman has waived the majority of his pay since taking office, accepting only $100 of the monthly $416.66. Hence the total of $21,200 for the five councilman and the seeming $9,800 jump to $31,000.
Rissman, however, is not seeking reelection. Meaning that he will be out of office in January, and it's extremely unlikely that his successor will
likewise forego the full pay. So the $1,200 increase per council member stands.
Council members on average meet once a month for their regular meetings and not infrequently hold a monthly workshop. They may also, on occasion, have to do some homework, visit a project site and interact with staff and citizens. They are reimbursed for mileage, conference fees, lodging and out-of-pocket expenses when they attend out-of-town government-related functions.
In their review of the budget, which the budget committee largely prepared, city officials followed the committee's recommendation and set the millage rate at 7.2 mills, the same as the current fiscal year. Even so, the 7.2 mills represent a 2.31-percent tax increase.
That's because, by law, taxing entities must advertise a tax increase if they adopt other than the rolled-back rate, which is calculated to generate the same property tax revenue as in the current fiscal year.
Typically, the rolled-back rate is lower than the current rate because property values tend to increase every year and if the rate is not adjusted downward to account for the higher values, it will bring in more tax money. Rarer is the situation where property values decline, in which case the rolled-back rate will be higher than the current rate to compensate for the depreciation in values.
As an example, 7.2 mills were projected to generate $609,400 in the 2017-2018 fiscal year. They are projected to generate $622,950 in the 2018-2019 fiscal year. Fiscal years run from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30.
Once advertised in the TRIM notices that the Property Appraiser's office will soon be mailing out, the millage rate by law may be lowered, but it may not be raised.
In other budgetary decisions, the council kept contributions to the nonprofits at the same level as in the current fiscal year. The exception was the contribution to the July 4th Fireworks Committee, which the council upped from $1,000 to $2,000.
The other contributions were $2,000 to Main Street Monticello; $1,000 to the Monticello-Jefferson County Chamber of Commerce; and $5,000 to the Jefferson County Humane Society.
The council chose not to contribute to Holistic Plan of Care, a local substance abuse treatment program that had requested $10,000.
The council's stated reason for not contributing to the program was that it wanted to fund only programs that promoted economic development, not social issues.
The budget allocates $30,000 for was previously designated as improvements for the south side of Dogwood Street but has now been changed to downtown improvements, to allow flexibility for other streets that may merit upgrading, such as Cherry.
The council plans a $1,200 across-the-board pay increase for each city employee, including the city clerk, city manager and council members. Additionally, the council gave the city manager a $4,500 pay increase effective July 1, raising his annual salary from $58,500 to $63,000.
At Councilman George Evans urging, City Manager Steve Wingate indicated that he would add a $1,500 incentive line item to the garbage department's budget. Wingate said it was an oversight on his part that he had failed to include the line item in the original budget. He assured the council that he would take the $1,500 from another part of the budget to ensure that it remained balanced.
A comparison of the projected expenditures for FY-2017-2018 versus FY-2018-2019 for the following operations show most are increasing their expenditures: general administrative is going from $455,432 to $495,100; law enforcement, from $756,141 to $788,409; fire control will remain the same at $37,338; garbage, from $257,831 to $264,296; and street/parks/cemeteries/animal control is the only one showing a decrease, going from $800,668 to $726,325. Total expenditures projected for FY2018-2019 are $2,311,468, versus the $2,307,410 projected in FY2017-2018.
Total expenditures for water and sewer, which are separate revenue-generating operations, are projected to decrease, from $1,232,189 in FY2017-2018, to $1,200,100 in FY2018-2019.
The budget projects $500,000 in grant funding for FY2018-2019: $100,000 for housing rehabilitation; $200,000 for ecological park improvements; and $200,000 from other grant funding.
The council has yet to determine the days for the tentative and final hearings on the budget, as the dates must be coordinated with the county and school board. Possibilities for the tentative budget hearing are Sept. 11,12, 13 or 17. Possibilities for the final hearing are Sept. 24 or 25.