Georgetown City Council to use $910K in excess funds for additional municipal services

The city of Georgetown will use $910,000 from excess funds for additional city services, following direction from City Council during an April 13 workshop meeting.

The $910,000 is part of a total $5.6 million in excess funds the city had in its fiscal year 2020-21 budget due to conservative budgeting during the COVID-19 pandemic, Finance Director Leigh Wallace said.

Here is a breakdown of what the money will cover:

• consulting for small area plans for San Jose—$100,000
• police for if and when a significant investigation is needed—$300,000
• winter storm debris removal—$250,000
• winter storm overtime—$80,000
• two trucks for inspections and streets—$180,000

The remaining $4.69 million will be put on hold until next year’s budgetary process per council guidance.

In other news:

• The city saw a $111 million revenue increase in its comprehensive annual financial report for FY 2020-21, reflecting the conservative budgeting due to COVID-19, Assistant Finance Director Elaine Wilson said.
• The city of Georgetown is working to finalize updates to the 2021 Hazard Mitigation Plan. Proposed updates include improved protection from lightning, city and stakeholder education and training, hail protection for vulnerable infrastructure, winter weather mitigation and protection, and improving efforts for multilanguage outreach, Georgetown Community Services Director Jack Daly said.