The Cordell City Council on Monday approved a revised budget proposal for the 2020-2021 fiscal year. The adopted budget calls for total general fund spending of $1,915,092.57 against $1,915,575 in projected revenue, with seven city departments slated for budget increases and six seeing cuts.
The new fiscal year begins July 1, 2020, and runs through June 30, 2021.
The city’s judicial and legal division was given a slight budget increase, going up form $52,263.51 in the current fiscal year to $54,536 in the 2020- 21 fiscal year. The judicial/legal department was overbudget in the 2019-20 fiscal, with an estimated total spending of $62,398.25.
The administrative department was also given a budget increase for the coming fiscal year. The new budget calls for the administrative department to spend $88,434.64, as compared to the current year budget of $84,331.28. That department is also over budget in the current year, with spending for 2019-2020 estimated at $93,816.84.
The grant writing department, which is way under budget in the current fiscal year due to the retirement of the city’s grant writers, is also slated for a budget increase. The department’s budget was increased from $62,928.60 to 80,393. During the council meeting, city administrator J.C. Moser said it was vital for the city to hire a qualified and experienced grant writer to help the city manage current grants and to seek out and secure new ones, especially in light of the city’s consent order with the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality to address long-standing issues with the city’s water quality.
The new budget also calls for an increase to the street department, going from $252,512.53 to $262,478.74. The street department has stayed within its budget during the current fiscal year, spending an estimated $252,289.32.
The code enforcement budget is also seeing an increase in the coming fiscal year, going from $56,056.64 to $57,631.15. The department overspent its 2019-2020 budget by more than $6,000, with estimated total expenditures of $62,593.
The last two departments receiving budget increases are the cemetery and animal welfare divisions, each jumping by nearly $30,000. Moser told the council members that the city needed to budget for a new employee who could handle the cemetery duties and animal control, so he split the personnel cost between the two divisions.
Councilwoman Zetta Penner asked Moser about the city giving police officers a $1 per hour raise to assume the animal control duties, which Moser confirmed. She then asked if that raise was coming back to the city since the police department would no longer have that duty. Moser said no, as Cordell’s police officers are among the lowest paid in the state.
The police department is slated for a deep cut. The new budget is $427,320.20, down from the current year’s budget of $440,311.97. The department’s expenditures in the current year total $439,150.31.
The largest budget cut for the new fiscal year is in the fire department, whose budget is going from $326,367.52 to $299,150. The department, however, stayed well under budget during the current fiscal year, spending only $295,351.35 of its budget.
The city swimming pool, which has been closed for the season by the city council, saw its budget fall from $62,502.15 to $29,985. The pool cost the city $54,807.80 during the current fiscal year.
The council also voted to cut the budget for the city’s ambulance service, dropping it from $121,825.13 to $116,556.72. The ambulance service spent $110,372.84 in the current fiscal year.