By Bob Strohm
bstrohm@wbcowqel.com
With the New Year less than two months away, the Bucyrus Finance Committee met Thursday night to discuss the city’s 2016 budget. Committee members had several questions regarding items requested in next year’s budget.
Facing the Finance Committee first was Streets and Sanitation Superintendent Jerry Daiber. Daiber was asked about $350,000 requested for two new dump trucks, one of which would be converted to a brining truck. That request would also cover two brine tanks and a hot box for asphalt. The two trucks would be used to replace dump trucks that are 22- and 19-years-old respectively. With a brining truck recently acquired by the city, John Walker argued that by having two brine trucks it would eliminate their use for nine months out of the year.
City Safety/Service Director Jeff Wagner noted that by fitting the extra truck with the brining equipment it would cut down on salt use which has increased to $75 per ton. Daiber added that the equipment on the truck stirs the brine into slurry that makes the salt more effective when it is used.
Bill O’Rourke told Daiber that the city should see how well the new brine truck works this year before ordering another one.
“We haven’t tried it yet. We don’t know how much road it can cover,” O’Rourke said. “Let’s see how the one brine truck works this winter. Okay the regular dump truck, and in the meantime do a cost comparison of a removable brine tank and truck versus a specialized truck.”
Wagner added that due to the increase in the price of road salt, the city increased the salt request by $20,000 to $75,000 for 2016.
“The salt prices jumped from $55 to $75 per ton,” Wagner said. “We could lower it to $50,000 or $65,000 but we don’t know what the winter will be like.”
Wagner noted that gas and oil prices were down across the board due to the decrease in the price of petroleum.
The city’s landfill budget was brought into question but Wagner explained that while lowering the amount, he still kept the budget request high due to the potential increase in rates at the county landfill.
“I originally budgeted $242,000. We could end up spending $210,000, but I don’t know if there will be an increase, so I kept it at $240,000.
Mayor Jeff Reser noted that the county landfill did plan on raising their rates.
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Storm Water improvements of $830,000 for 2016 were discussed. The improvements include an estimated $300,000 for storm water construction at Hopley and Southern avenues, and $400,000 for a water detention pond at the Fairgrounds.
Bruce Truka brought up that they had offered an agreement with the Fair Board in which the Fairgrounds would receive a reduced rate on storm water fees for the water detention pond, but that the Fair Board voted it down.
“It is troubling that they don’t get behind it,” Truka said.
Wagner said that he was working with the County Commissioners on the issue and hope to have that complete by December.
Police Chief David Koepke explained to the Finance Committee that the Police Department had an increase of $6,000 in Outside Contracts in case of network server issues. Koepke also noted that a contributing factor to the increase was the increase in demand for the company that the Police Department currently uses.
Koepke also noted that there was an increase in community policing because he wanted to increase Community Police Activities such as National Night Out, Safety Town, as well as bringing back an athletic league for the police.
O’Rourke questioned Koepke on the Gas and Oil request of $45,000 when so far this year the squad has only used $38,000. O’Rourke asked that the request be dropped down to $40,000 for 2016, and if the police department needs more it can be added later.
Koepke also requested $24,000 in order to lease two new cruisers for the force.
“I would like to lease so we can keep the fleet up to date without incurring a full purchase cost,” Koepke said.
The Finance Committee will meet again at 5:30 p.m. on Monday to continue the discussion of the city’s 2016 budget.