There’s still a little less than two weeks to go before the city holds its public hearing at 7 p.m. Feb. 25 on the $26.9 million budget for 2019-20, but City Council members still feel confident they’ll be able to pass a budget with no tax rate increase.
The Council held a budget work session Tuesday in which it looked at the police and fire department budget proposals and the general budget. The police budget included proposed spending increase of 1.51 percent, up to $3,835,160. For the fire department, the proposal is to increase 2.04 percent, to $3,696,425.
One of the issues the police department is facing is having four vacant positions on its staff, though one is expected to be filled on Feb. 24.
Heubusch was asked why there has been such a gap in personnel.