Morehead City Council heard the first reading, alongside a comprehensive presentation and discussion, of the proposed budget for the next fiscal year beginning this July. While the $14 million total would not change much from the current fiscal year, certain initiatives through the police, fire, public works, and other departments are seeking to utilize more funds.
Morehead Mayor, Laura White-Brown, elaborated on certain needs within these departments at March’s City Council meeting. Many of the budget line-item increases are for employee attainment and retention, as well as raises for city workers like firefighters. She said these increases are pivotal as the city’s cost of living and emergency calls uptick.
“Honestly, they’re departments you can’t have enough employees in. And we’ve been trending up in the number of calls that we get across the board. Whether that’s fire, whether that’s police, whether that’s EMS. We facilitate all of those calls,” said White-Brown.
The budget passed, though not unanimously. Darrell Littleton, a new member of Morehead City Council, gave a no vote for the first reading of the budget.
Littleton said he agreed with these initiatives, but while the budget itself seems sound, he needed more clarification on the possibility of line items being spent on events like international trips.
“Great idea, we need to do things like that, I’m all about the humanities. However, I’m not about the taxpayers paying for that. So, in lieu of that, that item came out of travel and training. This year, we’ve added more money to that travel and training,” said Littleton.
Littleton added he does not have any confirmation these trips are planned for next year, but he would prefer to know in detail before voting to affirm the budget. One way to accomplish this, he said, is for the budget to list exactly what funds are being spent where, and for the city to strictly adhere to those amounts.
Council member Edna Schack said the city department leaders are highly knowledgeable about their unit’s needs, but setting exact amounts and requiring amendments for every adjustment is not sustainable. She added integral parts of city operations, like utilities, telephone bills, and fuel, are often unpredictable.
“All things that we really have very little control over, and yet they happen. And all of us know that those kinds of things get more expensive, so I think they put in a price as close as they can,” said Schack. “And then if we have to go over, we have to go over, but to do it every single time we go over, it would just cost the city more money.”
White-Brown added residents can learn more about the budget and amendments by contacting her or other members of City Council. Past meeting livestreams are available for the public at the Morehead Kentucky City Government Facebook page.