The Manhattan City Commission worked well into Tuesday evening going over their options for the proposed 2016 budget. During the work session, commissioners heard a presentation from Hillary Badger, the city’s assistant director of finance, who covered everything from road upkeep costs to utilities.
Badger’s presentation covered what would ultimately be the decision factors for the commission’s final budget publication being released soon.
Commissioners also listened to a cost of services planning study by an outside contractor over water, waste water and storm water fees to be increased in the future. Assistant Director of Public Works for Water and Wastewater, Randy DeWitt introduced Carl Brown of Carl Brown Consulting, LLC.
Brown is a rate analyst who presented past, present and future rates the city’s water usage and fees are moving at, and also gave recomendations for future improvements.Brown also mentioned commissioners shouldn’t be quick to act without further studying rate analyses given to them.
Brown was contracted to perform this analysis for the city and provide suggestions for commissioners, and has 20 years of experience working with municipalities nationwide.Brown told the commission he believed the city must make a large shift in rates for water, stormwater and sewage altogether, based on his analysis.
At the conclusion of the work session, commissioners decided on a 2.95 mill levy increase for publication, which is in the stages of being finalized by City Manager Ron Fehr.
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In a related report, at least one community leader expressed concern about the usage of Convention and Visitors’ Bureau funds. Brad Everett with the Hilton Garden Inn downtown says he’s “aghast” that commissioners are deciding to go ahead and tap into what could be as much as $200,000 and use it for the Wolf House, Arts Center, Aggieville, and Downtown Business districts, adding “it’s difficult to see” and “disappointing.”Everett questions whether these areas will help fill hotels. As a former City Commissioner and Mayor, Everett admits he understands the tight budget times, but he questions this particular direction in which the group is headed.And Everett says he’s frankly “aghast” why they would use the funds that are supposed to be used to promote Manhattan to help with trash pickup and cleanup and for personnel costs in those districts. Everett says it’s difficult to see the city continue to fund the Discovery Center over a quarter million dollars, and now an additional $200,000 that will be going to some of the other entities that he says, quite frankly, does not generate room nights for local hotels.
