Council approves tentative budget

By Cathy Wentz

Staff Writer

CEDAR CITY – The council approved the city’s tentative budget for fiscal year 2009-2010 originally showing expenditures of $15,862,276 from the general fund, with some changes, during last Wednesday’s action meeting.

The changes the council discussed included an upgrade of the fence planned to surround the Leigh Hill Reservoir, the addition of funding to bring tournaments and other events into the city, improvements to a detention basin in the Cross Hollows area, funds toward a statue on Main Street, a camera for viewing the city’s wells internally, and funding for the youth council.

The first change to be discussed was the distribution of the cost to upgrade from a chain link fence around the reservoir to a wrought iron fence.

Finance Director Jace Bunting said the original cost for chain link was $72,500, which would come out of the water budget. The additional cost to upgrade to a decorative fence would be $178,500, which would come out of the capital improvement budget and be transferred to the water fund to make up the $251,000.

Bunting said, in a telephone interview, the council decided to wait to make a decision on the distribution of the cost for the fence because of the recreational aspect.

Councilor Nina Barnes brought up the issue of $8,000 that goes to a volunteer office for Iron County that is connected with the Five County Association of Governments. She said it was not clear as to how the money was being used.

Mayor Gerald R. Sherratt said the city is funding that office to get volunteers working for the community, but not necessarily the city directly.

Barnes said the youth council had expressed dissatisfaction because they were doing volunteer work that did not necessarily benefit the city, and there appears to be no budgeting set aside to run the youth council.

“I think the highest caliber of kids in Cedar City are in this group and they want to get in and do projects,” Barnes said.

Barnes and Sherratt decided to get together and find an area of the budget they can pull youth council money from. Barnes said about $2,000 would be helpful.

The council approved changes in the budget to provide $20,000 for a marketing plan that will involve a currently undesignated city employee promoting tournaments and events for the city’s ball fields and facilities such as the Cross Hollows Events Center and the Heritage Center.

Other changes include the purchase of a $50,000 camera to view the inside of the city’s wells; $250,000 to make improvements (for flood control purposes) to a detention basin ultimately intended as a ball field in the Cross Hollows area; and $20,000 to go toward the cost of a statue on Main Street.

Sherratt said, in a telephone interview, the city’s portion of that statue comes out of funds from the Redevelopment Agency, not out of taxpayer money. The total cost of the statue is $50,000, but the other $30,000 is funded through donations.

There will be a work meeting in the council chambers today at 5:30 p.m.