The City of Geary budget seems to be on a more even keel than in years previous. At least the council is better able to determine where the town is as far as resources are concerned.
This year tht equates to the council being able to announce year end longevity bonuses for employees. Back in the day, they were called Christmas bonuses, but in today’s lawsuit happy environment, the term bonus has been eliminated so that employees do not feel they are guaranteed the payment.
This year the payouts will be one dollar higher than last year for city employees and the same as last year for utility employees. The payments were included in the proposed budget when it was made.
Rita Allen was the lone no vote on the item, allowing it to pas handily.
That budget was detailed for the council by Chase Phillips of RS Meacham, the city’s accounting firm He explained 33 % of the year has elapsed, meaning that income should be at 33% of budget or more and expenditures 33% of budget or less.
Most of the departments met the mark, although there were higher expenses in streets to pay for backhoe repair and $14,000 mowing expense from the center of town out to the Cherokee gas station on I-40, which is annexed into the city.
Phillips was able to supply the council with sales tax data for the last several years. Those numbers averaged about $57,000 per month, excluding the pandemic year. The city budgets about $719,000, or close to 90% of the average annual sales tax income of $752,000.
The budget for each department can be adjusted up or down as needed to stay within bounds or accommodate higher expenses in one department by tightening the belt in others.
In othe business, the city continues to work with Lucas Moyers, an art teacher at Geary who is interested in building a tiny home in town. First the property at 55 South Blaine has to be rezoned from commercial to residential.
Moyers has done his part by speaking to other residents in the area and getting their input on the change. “It’s been mostly positive response,” he said. The home will have to adhere to the code requirement for minimum square footage and two egress – entrance and exit.
The next step is to hold a public hearing on the matter. It will be held immediately before the December city council meeting.
Rocky Coleman, a city council member, has been a strong supporter of Moyers’ plan.
“we need to be able to get some nice homes and families in here,” Coleman said.
When reviewing the report from the city animal control and code officer, Coleman said he thought it was time the council and the various departments went through the existing ordinances and updated them.
“Some are 20 or 30 years old,” he noted. Code officer C.D. Ferguson said perhaps the city could look at the ordinances from other cities because there are some things that the codes in Geary don’t even address. Coleman, for his part, thought it would be more important to update the existing code before adding to it.
The council also voted to accept the lowest bid for demolition of the building at 116 S. Broadway, which shares a wall with the town’s museum. The members, however, balked at paying an additional $10,000 to have the debris hauled away after it has been checked for asbestos. Instead, the city employees, some of whom are no longer occupied with the trash routes since the city changed garbage collection to an outside vendor, will take care of removing and disposing of the demolition remains. Without the removal charges, the work should cost the city about $20,000.