During a Sept. 2 regular meeting, council cut expenses across departments, going line by line to eliminate expenses they deemed unnecessary.
Officials plan to make another round of cuts at the next City Council meeting Sept. 16 and have not yet specified how much has been cut from the original $55.5 million budget, nor did they say how much they still intend to cut.
Although the total cuts have not been made official, some members of council drilled down on how they would prefer to workshop the city's budget moving forward.
Mayor Mike Snyder said for future budgets, he wants more detailed information on how departments are spending the money they are allocated down to individual purchases.
“I won’t be voting 'yes' for anything unless I know exactly what that includes,” Snyder said. “I can’t vote for just placeholders of tens of thousands of dollars.”
Officials also reduced several funds meant to provide “padding,” or money that is set aside for unspecified future use.
City Manager Warren Hutmacher said the aggressive cuts would likely force council to seek more funding for various departments down the road.
During the Sept. 2 meeting, council also proposed a no-new-revenue tax rate—or the rate at which the city would raise no additional ad valorem tax revenue, excluding valuations from new property—of $0.536448 per $100 valuation.
Although the proposed tax rate is lower than last fiscal year’s rate of $0.60, rising property values mean homeowners can expect to pay roughly the same amount in FY 2021-22, according to city information.
City Council approved the amended budget and the no-new-revenue tax rate on the first of two readings and plans to officially approve both at the next meeting Sept. 16.
