08/22/12 Monday evening members of the Plymouth Common Council got their first look at the 2013 budget during a work session.
Each department head was on hand to explain the changes in their budget and answer questions of the council members.
The total proposed City budget for 2012 is including the general fund, pension trust funds, special revenue funds and capital projects fund is $11,082,572 or 1.48% higher than this year’s budget of $10,921,233.
Next year’s budget does include a 3% salary increase for police, fire, city employees and elected officials and a 1% increase in the city’s share of PERF.
Only a couple of the city departments had reductions in their budget from this year to next. The Building Commissioner had a 14.63% reduction due to the fact that he purchased a new vehicle last year. The only other general fund budget with a reduction was in the Sanitation Department in the amount of 1.70%. The reduction was for the contract with Allied Waste. Clerk Treasurer Toni Hutchings said she felt comfortable reducing the appropriation after seeing how the budget has been for the past two years. It was noted that the $15.08 paid per unit for trash and recycling does not cover the entire cost of the program.
A couple of budgets with substantial increases included a 35% increase in the Storm Sewer budget. The increase of $52,000 is for the Logan Drain reconstruction project. Another budget with an increase was 21.25% in Engineering Department. The purchase of a new lap top, $5,000 additional for surveying and a file system are the cause for the increase. City Properties and Maintenance also had an increase of 37.33% including $75,000 for paving the city parking lot and the new lot where the Bauer Building use to stand on Garro Street.
The 3013 budget did not include any funds for making repairs to the bricks at the Old Fire House.
The Common Council will hold a public hearing on the 2013 budget on September 10th at 6:30 p.m. with first reading of the budget ordinance also scheduled.
