Mineola Monitor (Mineola, Tex.), Vol. 139, No. 38, Ed. 1 Wednesday, September 17, 2014 Page: 3 of 16
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Mineola Monitor • Wednesday, September 17,2014 3A
Budget balanced in most recent session
By DORIS NEWMAN
The Monitor Staff
In a budget workshop
following a special meet-
ing last Monday, City
Administrator David
Stevenson told the Mine-
ola City Council he had
balanced the proposed
coming fiscal year's bud-
get.
The proposed bud-
get totaled $5,150,466
with expenditures at
$5,148,407. The budget
would end up with a
$2,059 difference.
With Stevenson con-
sidering a 3 percent cost
of living allowance for
employees in the origi-
nal version of the pro-
posed budget, he said he
was asked to look at the
pay levels of the city's
lower paid employees,
"like we did a couple
years ago."
"They are all lower
paid," Ward 1 Aider-
woman Pat Wood said.
"But some really are,"
Sue Jones, the other
Ward 1 alderwoman
replied. She had ex-
pressed concern in a
previous meeting about
the impact of the 3 per-
cent increase on the bud-
get, and did so again in
last Monday's meeting.
However, she was inter-
ested in providing more
money for the city's low-
er paid employees. Ste-
venson said he had fig-
ured how much it would
cost to provide a $1 an
hour raise for anyone
making less than $16 an
hour, and then possibly
the 3 percent or less cost
of living increase with
that.
It was noted that the
911 dispatchers at the
Police Department were
among the lowest paid.
Stevenson also said that
he had asked Randy
Morgan, director of op-
erations at the Street De-
partment, if he would
rather have an extra em-
ployee or a raise in pay
for the existing ones. Ste-
venson said he told him
he preferred a raise for
the existing ones.
On the revenue side,
Stevenson said he and
Economic Development
Director/Assistant City
Administrator Mercy
Rushing had looked at
sales tax projections. He
calculated a 6 percent in-
crease from that source,
compared to last year for
which he'd figured on 4
percent. He said the city
"just broke even com-
pared to last year."
Sue Jones said looking
at the state comptroller's
report the sales tax for
the year through August
had gone down. "Yes,
but we are competing
with record highs last
year and the year be-
fore," Stevenson said.
He said there was an
expectation of more of
an increase than had oc-
curred as a result of the
Jalapeno Tree opening
and their customers also
shopping in town. But,
he said the sales tax base
is increasing, and "we
have some substantial
pull factor" including
Whataburger, which is
targeted to open within
two months. And Ste-
venson said the Pon-
derosa gun shop, refer-
ring to its new location,
and other places have "a
potential large amount
of merchandise waiting
to be sold." Stevenson
said the Ponderosa is
probably the largest gun
shop "in all of northeast
Texas."
"I feel comfortable
with revenue for the
coming year," he said.
He is factoring in $55,000
additional tax revenue
and he is expecting some
more in building per-
mits, saying the own-
ers of the assisted living
center "some time in the
near future will be add-
ing on."
The new apartment
complex on Bromberg
Street is also an asset, he
said. Their second phase
is nearing completion
and Stevenson said they
will also have another
phase.
"So there's going to be
a lot of lumber and ex-
pansion going on," he
said. However, he noted
the negative fact that
Cargill is closing. (See
separate story.)
As far as expenditures,
the city administrator
said he has included
money for one new po-
lice car and two com-
plete camera units. He
had not included two of
those but he said Chief
Chuck Bittner said due
to the age of the others in
the cars "he really need-
ed two."
As far as the fire depart-
ment, Stevenson said
even though Fire Mar-
shal David Madsen had
told him he was consid-
ering retiring in Febru-
ary, he had not allowed
for all of the funds in the
budget to cover what the
city would pay Madsen
for his unpaid time off.
He described it as an
"outstanding liability,"
though, so that money
will be available to him.
He also noted that the
fire department's budget
is basically unchanged
"excluding reducing the
supervision item."
When he got to the
street department, Ste-
venson noted they had
a new zero-turn mower,
and none of the other
equipment requests
were included. At this
juncture Pat Wood said
she had figured about 21
weeks were spent by a
city employee on "noth-
ing but mowing. "
"If we contract out to a
nonskilled person," she
said, that would leave a
skilled employee free to
do other tasks. And, "no
insurance, no overtime
and no benefits" would
have to be paid for those
doing the mowing. "I
know I bring it up every
year," she said.
Stevenson said that in
the past each of the utili-
ty departments had done
their own mowing but
the city used to contract
out mowing of city hall
and downtown proper-
ties. "Due to a change in
leadership at the time it
was decided to do some
more in-house," he said.
Public Works Di-
rector Johnny McCoy
confirmed that the 21
weeks of mowing are 40
hour-weeks and by two
people. Those hours are
spent mowing city prop-
erty and don't include
the lots the city main-
tains in neighborhoods
where the owners won't.
Wood also asked about
getting a government
program type employee.
Stevenson said those
had gone away, but
they should be coming
back soon and he was
going to look into that.
He also noted that the
street department bud-
get includes $783,000 for
streets and alleys.
As far as the adminis-
tration budget, Steven-
son said it includes the
election expense. "We
never know about that,"
he said. The economic
and community devel-
opment departments
are comprised of "about
three or four compo-
nents that make up all
of Mercy's and Fynda's
budgets."
Stevenson said the
budget is "right in the
black, revenue over ex-
penditures. We do know
well have increased rev-
enue. Just don't know
how much additional
revenue."
"We are balancing as
far as general fund," he
said. "All other depart-
ments are balanced."
At that point Mayor
Ken Pearce pointed out
the comparison of the to-
tal cost of the living raise
at different rates. For the
3 percent, it would be
approximately $68,000.
As the rate went down
by percentage points,
it also decreased the
expense to the city by
about $22,000 with each
percentage point.
Sue Jones said, "I
guess what bothers me"
was that the city basi-
cally has had challenges
with its budget, includ-
ing the decrease in sales
taxes. Eater, the mayor
said, "I'm for the 3 per-
cent COFA because I sat
on this council for sev-
eral years and we gave
nothing." He said the
bottom line was, "We
will have to decide what
things we are not going
to do if we don't have
enough revenue coming
in."
Stevenson said in the
past, if that had become
a problem, he had insti-
tuted a hiring freeze any
time an employee left.
"I've done that before
and would do it again.
It's very efficient in con-
trolling the budget."
"I'm not saying I am
not for a raise," Sue
Jones said. "I am say-
ing we need to compen-
sate. I would suggest
not straight across the
board."
"Ya'll approve and dis-
approve every penny
spent in this city," Ste-
venson said. And refer-
ring to payroll, "This is
the biggest expense we
have."
"I would like to be on
the optimistic end," the
mayor added, "which is
extremely unusual for
an accountant." He said
he was willing to ac-
cept the budget with the
raise, "knowing we may
have to make hard deci-
sions if it doesn't work."
Wood also weighed in
on the 3 percent cost of
living raise, saying, "ac-
tually I wish we could
do more."
Council preparing to set tax rate
In a special meeting last Monday, the Mineola City
Council held a public hearing on the proposed tax rate
required because it would raise more tax money for the
city than the same rate did last year.
In addition, they hashed out some more thoughts on
funding for Commerce Street.
The meeting began with a public hearing on the tax
rate, which no one attended.
City Administrator David Stevenson began saying
after several budget workshops he was given "some
direction on areas to look at." He said in the last work-
shop, expenditures still exceeded revenues by $150,000.
But he had remedied that.
"So I worked on it two ways - reducing expenses and
increasing revenues," he said.
The proposed tax rate is .53564, in round numbers 54
cents. It is the same rate that the city council approved
last year. But, if a property owner's property appraisal
went up, that means they will pay more taxes. If their
property valued stayed the same, it won't change.
Property values are set by the Wood County Appraisal
District.
The rate is expected to increase the city's revenues,
which is why two public hearings are required. The
city is expecting $55,000 in additional funds in the gen-
eral fund, Stevenson said, and roughly half of that is
from "brand new taxable value" and the other half is
increased appraisals.
If the city were to approve the rate that would bring
them the same amount of taxes as last year, it would
have been two-tenths of a cent lower. The second pub-
lic hearing will be on Sept. 18.
In last Monday's meeting the city council also dis-
cussed requesting more funds from the Meredith Foun-
dation to help with the Commerce Street project.
Stevenson said the discussion came up as a result
of the Mineola Economic Development Corporation
meeting (in which they were to discuss providing par-
tial funds for the Commerce Street project). He and
Mercy Rushing, economic development director and
assistant city administrator, were asked to look into the
possibly of sending another request to the foundation.
While he said the members of the foundation have
not contacted the city about providing more funds, the
city had some indication there may be a possibly of re-
ceiving more funds. Rushing said that the MEDC was
willing to provide the funds if needed but, "The board
thought it wouldn't hurt to ask." While that discussion
was tabled last Monday, the council addressed it again
in a special meeting Friday evening.
Chamber situation being scrutinized
An audit is being performed on the Mineola Cham-
ber of Commerce financial information, President Ja-
son Ray told the Monitor last week.
Additionally, the Mineola Police Department an-
nounced it began an embezzlement investigation for
the chamber on Aug. 14. Ray said the audit to which
he referred is in addition to the police investigation.
"We were blessed to be able to get somebody," to
perform the audit, he said. "We worked it out and got
a CPA who was willing to come in and do it for us."
On Monday, Wood County District Attorney Jim
Wheeler confirmed his office is involved with the in-
vestigation. "We are currently investigating, in con-
junction with the Mineola Police Department, matters
involving the misapplication of funds contributed to
the Mineola Chamber of Commerce."
On May 5 the executive secretary of 3 Vi years, Pam
Franklin, resigned after being confronted by Ray and
members of the chamber board about misuse of a
chamber credit card. Charges appeared linked to the
former secretary, Shirley Chadwick, who reported the
matter to chamber officials.
In addition to the charges appearing on the chamber
credit card that no one involved with the chamber was
aware of, a bill of over $5,000 to the Mineola Civic Cen-
ter hadn't been paid. The winner of the chance draw-
ing called the Bash also had not received his winnings.
Gladewater Friends of Library to host book sale
The Gladewater Friends of the Li-
brary will host a huge book sale in
the meeting room of Lee Library on
west Pacific Avenue Saturday from
10 a.m. until 4 p.m.
All hardbacks will be $1, paper-
backs 50 cents and trade paperbacks
$1. All proceeds will go to support
book and technology needs at the li-
brary.
For information call 903-845-2640.
A trolley will be available to bring
shoppers from the Arts & Crafts
Festival and downtown area to the
library and back for shopping conve-
nience.
The Mineola High School Staff has chosen Emily Wilkerson as this week’s
Student of the Week.
This week's student of the week, 17-year-old Emily Wilkerson,
is a senior at Mineola High School and the daughter of
Brandon and Kara Ellerbee, She has two brothers, Colton and
Joshua, who are both in college. Emily is an “A” Honor Roll
student who is involved in FCA, FFA, the Anchor Club, Junior
Historians, National Honor Society, Student Council and is a
Student Trainer. She won the Star Greenhand Award, Student
of the Week, AC English Student, was the MVP of her tennis
team, has qualified for State in various FFA events and is a
Top 10 Student. During her free time Emily enjoys swimming
and being with her friends and family. Mineola High School
Calculus Teacher Janell Abbott said, "Emily is one of the most
kindhearted students that I have had contact with. She genuinely cares about others
and does extra to help them. Through Anchor Club, she is very active in serving
others." After graduation Emily wants to attend Texas Tech University and become
a scrub nurse.
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Newman, Doris. Mineola Monitor (Mineola, Tex.), Vol. 139, No. 38, Ed. 1 Wednesday, September 17, 2014, newspaper, September 17, 2014; Mineola, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth899862/m1/3/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Mineola Memorial Library.