Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

City prepares for 2005 budgeting

It's budget time for the City of Prescott.

Carl Dalrymple, with Dalrymple-Crain Accounting, told the Prescott City Council, at its October meeting, the city's current budget will have to be amended in December to add income to it. There will be more income added than expenses, he said.

The electric department, he said, had an easy summer and purchased more electricity than it needed. Basically, he said, the city needs to reduce its projected income and costs.

In addition, the city needs to begin working on a budget for 2005, Dalrymple said. A budget committee was appointed to work on it and will start meeting in November.

The Council also passed a resolution to enter into an agreement with the Nevada County Ambulance Service.

The panel was told this is basically the same agreement the city has had with the NCAS, just with a different owner  Nick Hibbs. The resolution was approved.

An ordinance concerning the street project was presented to the Council for review until the November meeting. Prescott Mayor Howard Taylor said it will be brought up next month for a vote.

Taylor said the Blevins mayor called asking if Prescott had an old firetruck it would sell. Taylor talked to members of the Prescott Fire Department and were told the old LaFrance truck could be sold. The vehicle's approximate value is $1,000, but Taylor suggested the city sell it to Blevins for $50, as it needs a lot of work and doesn't run at this time.

According to Taylor, Blevins recently started a volunteer fire department and needs a firetruck. He said representatives from the Blevins VFD looked at the truck and agreed it's what they want.

In his economic development report, Jon Chadwell, executive director of the Prescott-Nevada County Economic Development Office, said there is a push on for the passage of Amendment 2, which would allow the state to compete for so-called "super projects". These are projects of 500 or more jobs with the prospect investing a minimum of $500 million. Should the measure be approved the state could commit no more than 5 percent of its budget to attract a prospect. This amount could not be allocated again until the first had been paid off.

Concerning the fire station/parks office on the east side of Prescott, he said the city got lucky because Potlatch donated all the framing lumber, including 2x4s, 2x6s and 2x12s, while International Paper-Gurdon donated more than 200 sheets of 3/4 inch plywood to finish the interior woodwork. This saved the city $11,000 on the project.

The money spent on the project has been spent locally, and the building should be completed within 30 days.

Both sides, Chadwell said, will have plenty of room. There will be a kitchen, two bathrooms and classroom space on the fire department side. The park side will include office space and storage both up and downstairs. There will also be a shop to repair equipment upstairs for the park department.

Everything is in place for the walking/jogging trail, he said. The only thing needed at this point is to find the survey stakes so the trail can be laid out. The lights and benches for the trail are in.

Mary Godwin, executive director of the Prescott-Nevada County Chamber of Commerce, updated the Council on what the Chamber has been doing of late.

She said the beautification committee obtained a grant to concrete the parking lot at the Depot Museum. The lot will be striped and landscaped later.

Trash day, she said, turned out well, with more than 6,100 pounds of trash picked up from the city's streets and neighborhoods. Between 60-70 people were involved in picking up the trash. Additionally, city crews went to 15 homes to pick up large items, such as furniture and appliances.

A costume contest for businesses and schools will be held Friday, Oct. 29, she said. This is an annual event which has turned into a competition among some businesses as there are cash prizes awarded to the winners.

Five new members will be inducted to the Chamber's Board of Directors at its annual meeting. "We had a successful year," she said.

Plans are also being worked on for the Christmas holidays, Godwin said. This year will see the Christmas parade, the live nativity and Christmas on the Square, along with the best decorated home contest for city and county residents.

The final order of business for the council was to declare Halloween will be celebrated Saturday, Oct. 30, instead of Sunday, Oct. 31.