Bardstown council gives close scrutiny of proposed 2014-15 budget

By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette / WBRT Radio

Councilman John Royalty listens to a discussion of the proposed 2014-15 City of Bardstown budget. Click to enlarge.

Tuesday, June 3, 2014, 11 p.m. — The Bardstown City Council gave Mayor Bill Sheckles’ proposed $45.5 million 2014-15 budget a close examination during a 2-1/2-hour working session Tuesday in the council chambers on Xavier Drive.

Many of the questions were based on a list Councilman Tommy Reed sent to the city’s Chief Financial Officer Mike Abell earlier that day. But the longest budget discussion focused on the proposed 2 percent increase in the payroll budgets of every city department.

Mayor Bill Sheckles said the increase isn’t designed to be an across-the-board salary increase for city employees. The money instead would for merit-based raises given to employees whose performance earned it. Several councilmen questioned the fairness of merit raises.

Councilman John Royalty said merit raises were a throw-back to a “good old boy” system, citing what he had witnessed in the past as a city police officer.

Councilman Bobby Simpson gestures while making a point in the discussion of a proposed 2 percent payroll increase in the 2014-15 City of Bardstown budget. click to enlarge.

Councilman Tommy Reed asked Sheckles about the criteria for a merit raise. “Is it subjective? Objective? Is there a formula? I think the biggest question this council has is that we would like to see the justification.”

Sheckles told Reed he wasn’t going to micro-manage how the department heads deal with the raises. Each department determines what is important, and each department head would be responsible for justifying their merit-pay raise recommendations to the mayor.

Councilman Bobby Simpson said he favored giving all employees the same increase. “That way everybody gets to benefit,” Simpson said. “Bread costs the same for everybody no matter how much they make.”

Sheckles asked the council to show the same faith he has that the department heads will be fair in how merit raises are applied. He invited the council to the payroll increase up or down. “If you don’t think the staff is worth pay raises, that’s your call,” he said.

Jessica Filieatreau, the city’s civil engineer, explains to the council about the higher costs of water meters. Click to enlarge.

Public Works Director Larry Hamilton told the council that wage fairness has always been a concern in his 40 years working with city government. “An automatic merit increase is phony,” he said.

The proposed 2 percent increase will allow each department to have the flexibility to give raises to reward top performance, he explained. “The ones who earn a merit increase can have their case justified to the mayor because he’s the ultimate decision-maker.”

Assistant City Administrator Larry Green told the council that during years in City Hall, department heads have always had to justify pay increases to the mayor, regardless of who the mayor has been.

DIGGER TRUCK REPLACEMENT. The council members questioned the budget’s funding to replace a truck used to dig holes for utility poles.

Councilman John Royalty said the existing digger truck just needed repairs — a cheaper option than spending $195,000 to replace the truck.

“You don’t have to spend that money for a new truck when you can fix it for $4,000 to $6,000 locally,” Royalty said. “If it runs and is mechanically sound, its good to go.”

Sheckles told the council he would check on the digger truck and the justification for funding its replacement.

BEECH FORK RUBBLE DAM. The council questioned funding for work on the rubble dam east of the New Haven Road bridge in the Beech Fork River. Jessica Filiatreau, the city’s civil engineer, told the council hoped-for grants for the project aren’t going to become available, and the work is needed to insure the city can pump water from the river to the Sympson Lake Reservoir.

Councilman Tommy Reed looks over answers to questions about the proposed City of Bardstown 2014-15 budget. Click to enlarge.

WATER METER FEES. Filiatreau told the council that changes are needed the fees the city charges for new water meters. Due to concerns over lead, manufacturers have changed to more expensive materials in the construction of water meters, and in the case of larger meters for business and industry, the city’s fees aren’t recovering the costs of the materials.

Filiatreau said she would work on creating a fee schedule to reflect the actual material costs in the form of an ordinance.

BAD CHECK FEE. Mike Abell, the city’s chief financial officer, recommended the city raise its bad check free from $25 to $50. The $25 fee hasn’t changed in years, noting other businesses and agencies have raised their fees. Banks now charge the city a fee when a check is returned.

The city isn’t recovering the costs involved in handling the check and collecting them, Abell said.

“It’s not the revenue we’re after, we’re sending a message saying we don’t want bad checks,” he said.

In other business, the council heard:

— the mayor’s report on proposed changes to the city Alcohol Beverage Control that will allow alcohol sales on election days;

— a report from Bardstown Cemetery Sexton Barbie Bryant on changed needed in formalizing the process of recording when cremations are buried at full grave plots. The city cemetery allows two cremations to be buried along with each full burial grave. The additional burials need to be recorded and a fee set for perpetual maintenance, she explained.

NEXT UP. The Bardstown City Council meets next 7 p.m. Tuesday, June 10, 2014, in the council chambers on Xavier Drive.

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