Council discusses radios and airport during budget

The Washington City Council met in special session at the Washington Free Public Library Wednesday night to discuss its 2012-2013 budget. Several of the departmental heads were in attendance to discuss their portion of the budget. The councilors will discuss the budget again at their meeting Tuesday, Feb. 21 at 6 p.m.

Washington Police Chief Greg Goodman said he did not need to replace a squad car for the upcoming budget year. He said the police are studying cars to decide what make and model to purchase in the future. The car the police have relied on, the Ford Crown Victoria, is no longer made. City Administrator Brent Hinson said that police cars receive a lot of wear and tear and that as a result they don?t last long.

?A police car doesn?t last 20 years,? he said. ?It will last maybe five.?

Hinson talked about the money the city spends on unemployment compensation. He said there was no reason to pay unemployment compensation to seasonal workers. He said the city should send the workers a letter at the beginning of the season that they will be terminated at a certain date in the future and then send the workers a second letter informing them of their termination when that day comes.

When the councilors reviewed the Fire Department?s budget, councilor Bob Shepherd asked why the city would pay for the department?s radios. He said the E911 Commission pays for radios of other fire departments in the county, so it should pay for the Washington Fire Department?s radios as well. Hinson said he would look into the matter further.

The council talked about what to do with the mowing at the airport. Hinson said that if an employee of the maintenance and construction department or the parks department mows around the runways, that time should be billed to the airport to reflect the true cost of running the airport.

The council talked about a policy whereby the money the airport earns stays at the airport and is used for airport expenses. Shepherd said he was fine with that but commented that the city had purchased hangars and fuel farms for the airport and that the city should be reimbursed for those expenses.

Don Pfeiffer of the parks department said the board would like to give $4,000 more than last year to the Washington Community Y. He said the money was for the Y?s youth athletic departments and that the Y needed the money to prevent an increase in fees for the kids in the program.

The council talked about the Steele Family Aquatic Center. Hinson said municipal pools are notorious for having high maintenance costs and for running budget deficits. He said Washington?s pool is doing very well financially compared to other pools. He said it took it about $94,000 in revenue in the fiscal year 2010-2011 and spent about $100,000.

Councilor Merlin Hagie said the council should reconsider how it repairs and repaves roads. He said the city has chip-and-sealed roads that have left the manhole covers several inches below the surface of the road. He said that instead of chip-and-sealing the roads the city could do spot repairs.

Hinson said paving roads with concrete is more expensive than chip-and-sealing roads but it saves money in the long run because chip-and-sealed roads require frequent repairs.

Hinson talked about his desire to make city accounting more transparent so that the city knew what it spends to perform specific tasks. For instance, Hinson said the city does not know how much it spends on snow removal since it does not track how many hours its employees spend on snow removal.

Shepherd said the city should also keep close track of how much the city vehicles are used. He said that just because the life of a vehicle is up does not mean it should be replaced. He said that if the vehicle wasn?t used much in the first place then the city could just go without one of its vehicles.

Hinson talked about his plan to get the water fund out of its deficit balance without increasing the water bills of Washington residents. He proposed raising water rates 30 percent while cutting sewer rates 14 percent. The net effect to residents is a wash, but the rate changes will allow the water fund to get out of the red. Hinson said the water rates have not kept up with growing expenses at the water plant.