CommerceNewsTODAY

The Commerce City Council unanimously adopted its fiscal year 2018 budget Monday night. The budget is about $26 million, $91,000 less than the current budget.
The council voted 4-0 for the budget. Council members Mark Fitzpatrick and Johnny Eubanks did not attend the meeting.
No pay hike is in the budget. City Manager James Wascher said he focused more on providing no increase to employees for health insurance.
The city’s health insurance will increase this year by about $81,000, he said.
The budget includes about $7 million for general operations, $14.2 million for utilities and $3.8 million for capital projects.
Slightly more than $1 million from the utility funds will be transferred to the city’s general fund for the fiscal year. That includes indirect costs, services the city provides to the utilities, mostly in the finance department, and direct cash transfers.
The city electric department is nearly as large as the water and sewer and gas departments combined.
The largest expenses for the general operations will be the police department, budgeted for $2.2 million and the public works department, budgeted for $1.45 million
Mayor Clark Hill said the budget is “cash neutral.” He said the police department had five positions in the budget and plans to fill only four, spreading the other money out to provide higher salaries for officers. He said it is a move to improve the city’s competitiveness for law enforcement positions.
The largest capital expense will be the city’s “south side pressure project” in the water department. It is budgeted for $1.3 million. Another $450,000 is planned for a new city park, which has not been designated or designed.
See the full story in the June 21 issue of The Jackson Herald.