Pay raises, budget increases part of Ronan budget
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RONAN – Ronan City Council on Oct. 20 approved pay raises and funds for many “wish list” budget requests that were put in hold in previous years because of a lack of funds.
Mayor Kim Aipperspach explained how the council allocated fund increases to different departments.
“Basically, $9,000 went to streets,” Aipperspach said. “It was previously library money. When we got done fudging here and there for everything else, there was $5,400 left that went to (the police chief) for the police department. We tried to promise the fire department something if we have a surplus again.”
Aipperspach said the town’s fire trucks are getting older, which impacts their insurance ratings. It would be ideal to put in any money saved by the city this fiscal year into a fund for a future fire truck purchase, Aipperspach said.
The city council also gave $4,000 in additional funds to the city court, and allocated $5,000 to fix city hall’s handicap accessible door.
City employees received a raise, which City Clerk Kaylene Melton said would be retroactive and include pay periods that began in July. Melton noted how rare it was to have extra monies to allocate to departments because the city spent less than it budgeted the previous year.
“For once we didn’t have a negative cash balance this year,” Melton said. “Our ending balance was in the positive.”
In other business, the city council re-zoned a property behind the White Elephant.
Ronan City Council meets every first and third Monday at 6 p.m. in City Hall.
