By: Crystal Hoffman
Newton Kansan
Increases to the 2008 city of Newton budget will allow for additional personnel and expanding of services - even as the mill levy is less than last year's.
To be added to the city in the coming budget year are a clerical position for the city attorney's office, a part-time parking control officer hired by the police department, up to six paramedics, the possible purchase of more cemetery space, additional inspection staff for the public works department and additional funding for the airport.
"The increase is still less than 5 percent from last year, even with all the additional costs," said Jim Heinicke, city manager. "And, despite the increase in expenditures, we are still lowering the mill levy a fraction below last year. That bring the decrease to almost 11 mills less than two years ago."
The city's budget for 2008 is proposed at $33.8 million.The city will see an increase in the budget of more than $2.9 million, with a mill levy decrease of .114 because of a $6 million increase in assessed valuation and the application of the 1 cent sales tax increase.
The proposed mill levy for the city of Newton will mean the owner of a $100,000 home will pay $494 in city property taxes for the year.
The Newton City Commission will have a public hearing at Tuesday's meeting before approving the 2008 budget. The meeting is at 7 p.m. at City Hall.
Budget increases will allow for several city departments to hire additional staff to cover increasing workloads as the city continues to grow.
Paramedics
The city is hoping, in this budget, to address a shortage of firemen who are trained as paramedics.
The last paramedic class offered was in 2004, Fire/EMS Chief Gary Denny said.
He has proposed offering a hybrid training program that combines computer-based learning with hands-on lab sessions through Barton County Community College.
"The benefit to offering the program in-house is we will be keeping the on-duty personnel within the city for call backs," Denny said.
The program would allow for six students to go through the 18-month paramedic training - two per shift with the department.
The program will cost about $51,000. That cost includes books, tuition, overtime, lab fees and other course materials.
Public works inspector
"As Newton continues to grow and residential neighborhoods increase, the need for building and environmental inspections will continue to rise," said Suzanne Loomis, public works director.
By hiring additional staff, more environmental issues will be able to be addressed and building and house codes enforced better, Loomis said.
The position will increase the budget $54,000 per year.
Parking control officer
Newton Police Chief Jim Daily asked the Newton City Commission to approve a budget that includes hiring a part-time parking control offices.
The proposal would move the current parking control officer into the office as a full-time records clerk, leaving a part-time position open for a parking control officer.
"A part-time parking control officer would be able to monitor parking on a daily basis, have the option of a varying schedule to include Saturday and would not be deterred or distracted by duties in the front office," Daily said. "This would benefit the downtown merchants."
The additional part-time staff will increase the budget by $11,000.
Clerical position in attorney's office
As the city attorney's office continues to see increased case volume, the number of employees is becoming inadequate, City Attorney Bob Myers said.
The department needs better day-to-day document control and management; organization of project files, research material and resources; and to free up professional legal staff to spend more time performing actual legal functions.
"We've put forth efforts to increase efficiency within the office, but there is only so much we can do," Myers said. "It is simply more than two people can handle."
Myers and his administrative assistant, Amy Tongish, have used a well-organized document organization process, experimented with alternative filing systems, ceased performing some information storage functions and utilized document imaging to replace paper files.
The budget impact of the clerical position will be about $15,000.
Additional cemetery space
The 2008 budget for the city's parks department reflects increased operating costs associated with the proposed acquisition of Restlawn Cemetery. The anticipated addition will cost $96,000, which includes $47,000 for an additional cemetery employee; $30,000 in contractual services; $10,000 for supplies; $2,000 for vehicle expenses; and a $4,200 transfer to the municipal equipment reserve for future purchase of a backhoe.
Airport
The Newton City/County Airport is having budget challenges because of shortfalls in revenue this year. As fuel prices continue to increase, revenue from its sales has decreased. Coupled with a bad year for agriculture - the airport gets revenue from surrounding cropland - and airport revenues are coming up short.
Airport manager T.W. Anderson said 2008 will be a rebound year but thinks some significant changes need to be made. He has asked the city and county to increase funding support from $50,000 annually to $80,000.
"These additional funds are needed in order to cover the increased cost of normal operations of the airport," he said. "The cost of operations, even with variability of fuel sales removed from the equation, has increased 33 percent in the last four years alone."
Outside agencies
Included in Newton's budget are funds set aside for outside agencies such as Health Ministries, Mid-CAP, historical preservation, Harvey County Economic Development Council, Chisholm Trail Festival and Caring Hands Human Society.
The city commission approved funding for many of the agencies at the same level as 2007. One increase in outside agency funding, approved by the commission, was to budget an additional $3,000 for the Chisholm Trail Festival for a of community-wide event.
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