Utility bill relief in the works
BY MARK J. CRAWFORD
Telegraph Editor
STARKE — With less than a quarter of the current fiscal year left, Starke City Clerk Jimmy Crosby said he feels good about the numbers.
Crosby discussed the year-to-date figures with commissioners July 19 and previewed plans for next year’s budget.
The city is on target to meet its $4.5 million in general fund spending, give or take $50,000 in either direction, he said. Administration is under budget around $165,000, and the fire department is $95,000 under budget. The police department is overbudget the $155,000, but according to Crosby, expenses were underestimated to begin with.
That wouldn’t be the first time.
Utility revenue and expenditures are both up, with revenue outpacing expenses by $1.5 million due to the American Rescue Plan Act. Spending federal pandemic recovery dollars allowed the city to cover the utility expenses related to the Orange Street pavement project and a new bucket truck, Crosby said.
He anticipates transferring less than budgeted from utilities to cover general government costs as a result.
“If you hadn’t had that (ARPA funds), it would have been a different picture,” Crosby said, adding the city is essentially breaking even.
Commissioners were given several days to meet individually to meet with City Manager Drew Mullins to discuss their budget priorities for 2022-2023.
The manager aims to have a budget ready to present to commissioners at their Aug. 2 meeting. Public hearings will take place in September, so any workshops or additional budget adjustments will need to take place in the interim.
One issue commissioners did settle was the proposed tax rate. They will avoid a $50,000 tax increase by adopting a rollback rate of 4.7854 mills, down from 5.0909 mills. Mullins was instructed to base the budget on this rate.
The public hearings will take place on Sept. 6 and 20.
ARPA funding discussed
Of the nearly $1.36 million in federal pandemic relief received so far through ARPA, Starke has $314 left, according to a report from the city clerk.
Orange Street utility work cost the city $875,000, and the city spent $200,500 on a bucket truck and $41,000 on a police truck. Security cameras at the Edwards Road park cost $17,000, and another $24,000 was spent on a software upgrade. Starke is also paying itself back $200,000 it that came out of the rate stabilization fund to lower fuel adjustment costs for customers last October through December.
The city will receive another $1.36 million for 2022-23 and has already spent or earmarked $425,000 for its vac truck purchase, $40,000 for police vehicles, $50,000 in matching funds for a utility grant and $26,000 for software training costs.
That leaves around $817,000.
The commission did prioritize projects initially, and some of those have been accomplished. As time has passed, rules changed for how the revenue can be used, and the commission has changed as well. Crosby said the money has been expended as needs arose.
Help with utility bills
Commissioner Danny Nugent said utility bills continue to be high and people are struggling with payments.
Crosby said fuel costs associated with the city’s electricity purchase are now double what they were last September, resulting in an additional $200,000 a month the city would be billing customers. If the city chooses to absorb that amount, for July and August, it will cost the city $400,000.
If the city can absorb the cost for residential customers only, it may be able to stretch that amount over three months, Crosby said. The legality of that is a question for the attorneys. The argument offered in favor is that businesses can manage a higher utility bill by raising their prices, he said.
The city won’t tap the remaining ARPA money to lower bills but unspent revenue from this fiscal year. It will leave less money to carry forward, and the budget for 2022-23 will be even leaner as a result, the clerk said.
Crosby also said he’s willing to work with customers on fixed incomes by delaying cutoffs until they receive their checks each month. They simply need to go see him, he said. There’s an ordinance that dictates when cutoffs begin but not when they end, and Crosby said people on Social Security are last on the cutoff list.
In other business:
—the commission approved on first reading an ordinance specifying that elected officials will take office following a runoff election in November, even if a runoff election is not required. Without the change, attorney Clay Martin said candidates would take office immediately upon election, perhaps truncating an elected official’s four-year term.
The second reading will take place in August, prior to the Aug. 23 election.
—Mullins said the city saved more than $100,000 by responding to a sewer backup in a local business and repairing a crushed pipe at U.S. 301 and SR 16 in house instead of contracting with an outside company.
Similarly, they responded to a loss of power on Edwards Road following a recent thunderstorm, and saved another $100,000 with an in-house solution instead of purchasing a new transformer, the price of which has doubled in the last year.
Mullins said he is taking a more active role in these decisions and encouraging a new philosophy in responding to such problems.
