Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

City's budget adopted for 2004

Prescott's City Council adopted an $8.1 million budget for 2004 at its Dec. 15 meeting.

The council took little time to make this decision, as all members had received copies of the proposed budget prior to the meeting.

The overall budget is $9,020,325, but only 90 percent of this can be allocated for use. The other 10 percent must be kept as a contingency fund in case of an emergency.

Anticipated revenue for the city's electric department is $6,308,225, while the water department is expected to bring in $500,000. The expected money coming in from the sewer department is $261,000, with $15,000 budgeted as the river plant's income.

The general and administrative budget was set at $62,000, with the street fund expected to be $202,000 for 2004.

The fire pension fund's anticipated revenue was set at $2,400, with $1,400 for the cemetery's projected revenue.

The city's general fund has an anticipated revenue of $1,353,900, with the garbage collection income expected to be $220,000.

Ryan Bowman, with Stephens, Inc., read a 24-page ordinance dealing with the bond issue for the street tax.

The city, he said, got a good interest rate at 3.95 percent and, if all things stay the same, the tax will be removed by 2014 at the latest. However, he added, because the interest rate was lower than expected, at least three years could be shaved from this time frame and the tax could sunset in 2011.

The city will be making two payments on the bond annually, on January and July 1, starting in 2005.

According to Bowman, the Bank of Prescott and the Nevada County Branch Bank of Delight bought about $8000,000 worth of the bonds.

The way the bond ordinance was written, all money from the sales tax must go toward paying off the bond issue, any extra money coming in also must go toward bond payments, he said.

The council was informed Metropolitan National Bank of Little Rock is the trustee for the bonds.

The city's governing body followed procedure and amended the 2003 budget. Carl Dalrymple, city accountant, said this is always done in December and make all accounts balance. By law, cities cannot deficit spend, unlike the federal government.

In addition, the council approved resolutions to allow the Prescott Police Department to apply for a block grant with a 90-10 match, and will participate in the Arkansas Department of Economic Development's Tax Back program for Hines Trucking.

This, said Jon Chadwell, executive director of the Prescott-Nevada County Economic Development Office, will help Hines get a rebate on taxes while allowing the company to make improvements or expansions and hire more people.

In his report to the council, Chadwell said the new sales tax for Prescott will be 8.5 percent as of Jan. 1, 2004, with the addition of the 1 3/8 cent tax for street improvement.

This, he said, will be about = cent more than the tax base in some surrounding communities.

Thirteen companies asked for copies of plans for the new fire station/parks department office, he said, and this is good for the city as the larger number of bidders should make for a good price.

However, he added, the plans now call for the foundation and shell building only, with the departments involved to decide on the interiors after the building is up.

Chadwell updated the council on the city's web site  www.Dina.org. He said there have been 6,115 sessions, with 2,014 unique visitors, with 1,511 visiting the site once. Overall, there have been 21,489 hits, or an average of 66 hits per day to the site.

"We received information on how to update the site," he said, "and will do this weekly, adding a calendar of events."

The sidewalk project, he said, is coming along and should be done early next year. The next step will be to install the drainage and corners to the sidewalks around town. The new sidewalks will all be handicap accessible.

Mary Godwin, executive director of the Prescott-Nevada County Chamber of Commerce, reported on having a big crowd at Christmas on the Square and at the Christmas parade.

In preparing for Breakfast with Santa, she said, it took four truckloads to get everything needed out to the Potlatch Building.

The playground equipment, she said, has been ordered and should be in sometime in January.