Waurika News Democrat

Local News

June 17, 2009

Slight dip in Waurika budget

Commissioners set goal to trim costs during FY ’09-10

Jeff Kaley

WAURIKA — It’s not like the budget that will sustain Waurika city government in the next fiscal year isn’t a considerable amount of money — it is.

But city administrators note that the FY 2009-10 General Fund budget they accepted Monday is actually a bit smaller than the past year’s allocation, and they stress that conservative principles led to a figure of $713,600.

Following a public hearing, during which no one from the public addressed the proposed FY ’09-10 budget, the city commissioners and the Waurika Public Works Authority unanimously approved a $713,600 General Fund budget presented by City Manager Chuck Brown and City Treasurer Gail Kelley

The budget was the result of weeks of collecting input from auditors, financial experts, commission members and city department heads. The $713,600 budget that evolved is $10,931 less than the $724,531 budgeted for FY ’08-09.

“We were being a little conservative with this budget. We know prices are going to go up for a lot of things, but we want to pay as we go, so we budgeted a little less for some things,” Brown noted. “We did raise some salaries, but the raises weren’t that much.

“While we prepared the budget, we felt spending a little less was the feeling of the council, so we took that approach. But, $713,600 is still a pretty healthy budget.”

On paper, that amount is actually far greater than the “amended” budget for FY ’08-09. Going into Monday’s special meeting at City Hall, only $532,173 of last year’s budget had been spent. However, before the middle of July, that total will have risen substantially due to carryover funds.

“We don’t know what the carryover will be until the end of (FY ’09), which ends July 1, and we’ve gotten a few days into July. We do know there will be a carryover that will affect last year’s budget — we just don’t know how much, yet,” Brown said.

Mayor Gayle Johnson said a change in budget planning was reflected in last year’s budget and continued to have impact this year.

“In the last couple years, we’ve changed the budget plan, after talking to our auditors and budget-planners,” she said. “They talked to us about two different types of budgeting plans, and we’d always used the old plan. We moved to the newer plan last year.

“We made that change, because it allows us to budget more for expenditures, but not necessarily ‘use’ more money for expenditures.

“I hope we spend less than we’ve budgeted for the upcoming fiscal year. I don’t want us to be overly conservative, but these are public funds, and the economy right now dictates that we should be more prudent with public funds.”

The agenda for the special meeting included an item to discuss and perhaps take action on a proposal for a new software program for the municipal court, and the possibility of Waurika becoming a BETA city as part of a program offered by KELLPRO Inc. of Duncan.

However, the commissioners wanted more time to study information on those proposals and the item was tabled to the July regular meeting.

Text Only
Local News
  • Council hears possible TTHM solution

    To deal with the ongoing Trihalomethane issue plaguing the City of Waurika, Steve Woodward, of Utility Service, offered the Waurika City Commission a different course of action — Much different than the multi-million dollar projects offered by other service providers.

    February 2, 2012

  • Looking Back While Moving Forward

    January 26, 2012

  • Abatement process raises questions

    A public nuisance meeting for a property in the 400 block of east Park prompted a lengthy discourse between city officials and the property owner, Henry Baker.

    January 18, 2012

  • Cleaning up Ready to get fit? Bohot can help

    Lose weight.
    For most red-blooded Americans, those two words become an objective about this time of year.

    January 9, 2012 1 Photo

  • 2012 brings changes to education

    “I’m definitely not a doom and gloom kind of guy. I think we are on the way up,” Terry added. “The overall outlook is good.”

    January 9, 2012

  • First Bank and Trust makes some changes

    First Bank & Trust Co. announced the retirement of James Montgomery after 40 years of banking and the promotion of Joanna Dyer as the Banking Center Manager of the Waurika office. Jared Wilson will take on the role as the primary loan officer.

    January 9, 2012

  • 'They made out like bandits'

    The Waurika Volunteer Fire Department passed out its mountain of toys late last week, before Christmas.

    December 29, 2011

  • 2012 important year for Waurika

    Chuck Brown wasted little time when asked about the City of Waurika’s biggest challenge going into 2012.

    December 29, 2011

  • Saint Nick brings boost to the economy

    Christmas is many things to many people.
    For retailers nationwide it is a boom to their bottom line. Just last December, U.S. retail stores hauled in $27.2 billion in sales.

    December 22, 2011

  • Operation Christmas nets huge haul

    Most of the time they wear their fire gear. This time of the year, however, the Waurika volunteer firefighters might as well wear red suits and fake beards.

    December 22, 2011