Chelsea Council approves utilities corporation, discusses budget

The Chelsea City Council had a short agenda followed by a longer discussion during a specially called city council meeting on Sept. 7.

The meeting was originally set as a work session to discuss the Fiscal year 2018 budget and was changed to a full council meeting during the Sept. 5 regularly scheduled meeting.

During the meeting, the Council approved to pay the city’s bills and to form a Governmental Utility Services Corporation, or GUSC. The GUSC is a legal entity that will allow an opportunity to influence rates and charges for utility services, according to the resolution.

According to the resolution, the board of directors will be made of three people with staggered terms. The three board members on the resolution include Jay Jernigan, Eric Quattlebaum and Cole Williams.

“The formation of this GUSC is being put in place to set in motion for us a tool to regulate utility costs for our citizens,” said Mayor Tony Picklesimer.

Following the two agenda items, the Council adjourned its meeting and began a work session to discuss the city’s budget.

Picklesimer said he had spent a lot of time with the city’s auditor, Wayne Barber, to prepare the budget. It also looked somewhat different than the city’s past budgets.

“This budget is much more detailed and much more complex than the City of Chelsea’s budget has ever been,” Picklesimer said. “I felt that we had grown, I felt the need that we had grown to the point that we needed much more detail from now going forward, per department, rather than having multiple items bunched into one category.”

In the past, the city’s budget had pulled funds for multiple departments out of one general fund, rather than breaking it up. The proposed budget before the Council had a different format, where each department had its own budget.

“My experience has been that you can better manage our payroll expenses if they are broken down by department,” Picklesimer said.

The mayor also noted that “the city did fine for 20 years before we got here,” but he believes a more detailed budget will be beneficial due to Chelsea’s growth and projected growth.

Picklesimer then passed the meeting over to council member David Ingram, who went over the budget line by line.

“It’s an extremely well-done budget,” Ingram said, noting that it was easier to understand and learn the flow of the city’s money.

“The cash position of the city is very good, and you’ll see that from some of the reports,” Ingram said. The city’s general fund is about $2.6 million, which Ingram said is about $800,000 more than it was at the start of Fiscal year 2017.

Ingram noted some funds the city has not utilized in a while, including some revenue from gas taxes and certificates of deposit that are earmarked for capital improvements.

Some of the budget items for FY18 include the renovation of Chelsea’s new library building, which will come from state capital improvement funds, Ingram said.

“What we’ll do is we’ll transfer $350,000 out of these funds into our capital project funds and use [it] for our library renovations,” Ingram said.

Other smaller capital projects included a potential pavilion at the community center, covers for bleachers at the sports complex, furnishings for the new library building, the refurbishing of a fire truck and a new generator for the fire department and other items.

“What you’re looking at is a balance, at year end, we should have about $870,000 in this fund. We’re projecting expenses, with the increases, of about $500,000 next year,” Ingram said in regard to the capital projects fund, which includes transfers from the general fund and bond proceeds. “So at the end of next year, this fund should still be sitting at about $1 million with funds continuing to go into this fund.”

As items were discussed, Picklesimer mentioned budgets that needed to be changed from his original proposal. One change was to the budgeted cost of the Cupids Lane project, for which the council approved a bid on Sept. 5. While the proposed budget had the cost around $75,000, the council approved a bid for $49,900.

The mayor also asked to adjust the cost of furnishings for the library from $100,000 to $110,000, which is more in line with an estimate from Library Director Dana Polk. In addition, they added two expenditures approved on Sept. 5 — the sign for the Highway 11 sports complex and the playground near city hall. While those projects will start in FY17, they will not wrap up until FY18, and that is when it will be paid.

“We approved them in this fiscal year, but they won’t be completed and paid for until the next fiscal year,” Picklesimer said.

Other changes between the FY17 and FY18 budgets included the addition of new positions at the fire department, community center and maintenance department, which led to higher personnel costs for those departments. The cost for a municipal court was also included, although most of that budget was speculative due to FY18 being the first year for the court.

“The court budget, obviously, is a shot in the dark,” Ingram said.

While the professional fees and payroll costs are known, it is difficult to predict what the city will bring in through fines or pay out in expenses.

“This is very much a guessing game,” said Barber, explaining that there are different percentages of return for each court-awarded fine.

The court budget included around a $40,000 increase in net cost to the city. Picklesimer reiterated what he has said before, that the court is not about making money.

“The municipal court has never been about revenue to me,” he said. “It’s about sovereignty.”

The budget in front of the Council was only the mayor’s proposal, not a final budget, and no decision was made at the meeting. Picklesimer asked council members to look over the budget and come forward with any questions. He also asked for comments from those in attendance.

One resident asked about potentially opening the community center for longer hours to keep young men off the streets or from other, less wholesome activities. Picklesimer thanked him for the comment, but noted that even a few more hours open eventually adds up in cost.

“I know there will be some discussions, some one-on-one discussions, between now and the 19th of September, but my hope is that we have this approved for the 19th of September,” Picklesimer said at the close of the meeting.