By MELINDA J. OVERSTREET
for Glasgow News 1
After having just shy of two weeks to look through the mayor’s proposed budget for the 2025-26 fiscal year that begins July 1, the Finance Committee of the Glasgow Common Council convened for a special meeting Wednesday evening to discuss the 165-page document.
Terry Bunnell, as chair of the committee, kicked things off with a couple of reminders, with the first being that the ordinance adopting the budget is expected to be on the agenda for the full city council’s consideration later this month. As with all ordinances, approval of two separate readings is required before this would be adopted. The first reading is expected June 9 and the second on June 23.
Throughout the budget document, figures are provided from prior years for comparison – “actual” figures (versus budgeted) for FY 23 and FY 24, both budgeted and actual figures for FY 25 (the current year) and budgeted figures proposed for FY 26. Bunnell specified that for the current year, the “actual” figures are only through April 30.
He also noted that with the type of government accounting required, where differences in numbers are shown, positive numbers are reflected as negatives and vice versa. For example, the grand total of projected revenues in the revenue summary in the proposed budget for the General Fund and all other funds combined is $34,015,233. The grand total of projected expenses is $33,616,286, for a net amount of $398,947 in revenues over expenses that would be carried forward to the following fiscal year. On the expense summary page toward the end of the document, however, that amount is shown as the net amount of expenses over revenues at -398,947, so anyone not familiar with the accounting method would need to be aware of such things to avoid misinterpretation.
“We’ve got a surplus. We’ve got more revenue than expenses projected in this coming budget. Revenue’s up about 13 percent, expenses down about 12 percent,” Bunnell said.
Included in the budget are several projects that are under way or planned and need to be completed, the sale of some real estate from the former Johnson property, as well as some expenses related to initial development of that land, some salary increases, and “a lot of community things going on,” he said.
The $2 million new fire truck that had been budgeted for this fiscal year (FY 25) is carried over into the new budget because it won’t be delivered until fall, which has been known for several months. He and Mayor Henry Royse said in different ways that there are some other pieces of equipment included in the budget, but nothing else close to that scale.
Traditionally, a letter from whoever is mayor at the time introduces the budget and is included with the document as something of an overall summary in narrative form.
“The finances of our city paint an ever-changing picture,” Royse’s letter begins. “This budget is simply a snapshot of where we stand coming into the new year. To recap, last year the city began some long overdue projects.”
Those included the overhaul of American Legion Park, featuring the replacement of the aged pool with a new aquatic center; the rebuilding of a fire-devastated Richardson Stadium at Gorin Park; the farmers market facility under construction; improvements at the Glasgow Municipal Airport; and a bridge at the landfill to make hauling soil from other parts of the property more time- and cost-efficient, the latter for which federal grant funds are anticipated. What wasn’t expected, the letter notes, was repairs needed for the parking structure downtown.
“The good news is sound fiscal management of finances makes it possible for us to meet planned expansions and the maintenance ‘surprises,’” the letter states, before going on to discuss anticipated revenues, adding, “The traffic counts at our major retail locations are at an all time high.”
He reiterated some of that during the meeting to emphasize it.
“This past year has been tricky because we were so far behind on things that needed to be done, and so I’m really pleased that we were able to accomplish the things that needed to be done, had been put off. Yes, we paid the price because we put it off so long that it cost us more to do it,” Royse said, “but we’re getting it done. … I’m really tickled that the budget is coming in with a surplus, because we have things we’re going to have to figure out.”
He mentioned that they don’t have the numbers yet for pedestrian walkway that connects the parking structure to Main Street at the Glasgow Public Square, so he was glad they have some latitude to give them room to breathe.
City Treasurer Stephanie Garrett said the high end of an estimated range for the pedway is included in this proposed budget.
“I’m catching my breath until I see the number,” Royse said, “because I have spent an entire year of being shocked out of my seat at what people come back with [in bids] and costs of doing [things].”
He said at least an estimate would get them closer than not having it in there at all.
“I don’t want this pedway thing to come in so far that we can’t finish it,” the mayor said.
The document breaks down the General Fund by department and subaccount numbers and then does the same for the other “funds.” The General Fund includes most city departments – administrative; legislative; police, including animal control; fire; emergency telecommunications; the street, transit and stormwater divisions of the Department of Public Works; recreation, including the swimming pool/aquatic center; and the South Central Kentucky Cultural Center, for which the city covers utilities and building maintenance.
Other funds include capital projects/land; Plaza Theatre; municipal road aid; police and fire training through the Kentucky Law Enforcement Foundation Program Fund; economic development loan fund; the cemetery and a separate fund for the cemetery’s perpetual upkeep; sanitation and landfill divisions of the DPW; and the closure/postclosure fund for the landfill.
Bunnell led the committee, which also includes council members Chasity Lowery, James “Happy” Neal and Freddie Norris, as well as two council members who attended as guests, Randy Wilkinson and Marna Kirkpatrick, and nonvoting members through a quick walk through each of those fund sections of the budget.
The city government provides multiple services to the community, dependent mostly upon revenue from taxes and fees, primarily the occupational and net profit taxes, but also often from the landfill.
“The landfill does quite well. The landfill subsidizes a lot of the things we do,” Bunnell said.
The city is required to place a certain amount of funding in the separate closure/postclosure fund, and that is restricted money that can’t be used for anything else. When funds are transferred from the landfill fund to help cover other expenses, they are not coming from that restricted fund, but some in the community – including some council members at times – have misunderstood or been confused by this through the years.
As things began to wrap up, Bunnell said the city tries to build its reserves so that when it gets to the point it needs big cash outlays, they have the money for those outlays.
Neal asked Garrett and Finance Officer Madi Griffin whether they felt good that the budget was right.
“Solid?” Griffin asked, clarifying. “Yeah. Oh, yeah.”
Garrett, who was attending via telephone, chimed in, “Happy, as long as we sell some land … the Johnson property.”
Neal said he supposed they’d better start working on that.
“Already going on,” Royse said.
As Glasgow News 1 has previously reported, legal agreements between the city and potential buyers for residential and retail developments on the property along Cleveland Avenue have been drafted and the wording is under review by attorneys.
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