Council sessions set for budget discussions

Sep. 21—Joplin's proposed $213.8 million city budget will be examined at City Council meetings to be held Monday through Wednesday.

That amount of spending is up from the proposed city budget for the current fiscal year of $178.3 million.

The next fiscal year begins Nov. 1.

While the proposed budget total is higher than most past budget years, the all-time high was in 2014, when the budget ballooned with federal disaster recovery aid from the 2011 Joplin tornado. That year, the spending plan reached $275.4 million, according to the city's finance director, Leslie Haase.

Spending grew in the upcoming fiscal year's proposed budget largely because of the amount of federal and state grant funding that will be used for capital projects and by the expense of projects to be funded or partially paid by local sales tax revenue.

Personnel costs

Personnel costs will account for about 58% of the budget.

There are funds in the spending plan for a reorganization of the public works department that will involve an increase in personnel costs. Seven additional workers are proposed. Several of the positions would be new to the department, but some would involve new job titles or promotions for existing employees. The department had cut some positions in the past when the city had budget restrictions.

Two sworn officers will be added to the police department. Other new positions will be a new lead building inspector and administrative assistant in the building department. That department sustained cuts in past years as well.

City Manager Nick Edwards provided a preview of the city's proposed budget for the upcoming 2025 year at a meeting last month.

"The budget is a very important tool for us. It brings together a lot of different things — our policies, our financial plans, our operations — and helps advise the community about city resources," Edwards said.

"We have to be grounded in our assumptions, our revenue and expenditure assumptions. That keeps us from taking risks or being too conservative," he added.

'Community is growing'

The operations portion of the budget is of particular note to city officials.

"We're facing historic levels of work with the American Rescue Plan Act and some of our improvement projects. I feel like our community is growing," Edwards said. The number of projects led to developing a plan to handle the workload facing city administrators and staff, Edwards said then.

Looking back on this city fiscal year, there is a mix of good and bad news, Edwards said.

"We've seen in our estimates that sales tax is starting to flatten this year. We are projecting a small increase in sales tax (revenue), but generally our revenue is showing signs of flattening," the city manager said, although the use tax is staying strong.

"The marijuana tax is helping us overcome a shortfall" in taxes, he added.

Since the city began collecting the voter-approved use tax in March 2022, it has taken in more than $13 million. In eight months of 2022 after the collections began, the city received more than $2.6 million. In all of 2023, the total reached more than $5.5 million. This fiscal year so far, nine months of revenue from the tax has amounted to more than $4.9 million.

Collection of the marijuana sales tax was ahead of budget as of August. City coffers began realizing that revenue in December, and it had generated $474,958 as of July. The tax was budgeted to bring in $300,000.

Operating costs in the general fund will include a $900,000 allocation in the city manager's budget for costs related to the future broadband network being constructed by Allo Fiber operating in conjunction with the city.

The council will meet at 5:45 p.m. daily Monday through Wednesday at City Hall, 602 S. Main St.

Residents may make comments or ask questions on the proposed budget at the start of each night's meetings.