GALION — The City of Galion took a look ahead at the upcoming 2023 city budget during a recent council meeting. City Council members met for a special session on Nov. 29 to go over some items.
The second reading of the Union Agreement – IAFF-AFL-CIO took place.
“Early in the year it seemed to me that half of the inflation rate is about what we need to be able to offer in order to keep our qualified staff,” said mayor Tom O’Leary.
In the end, the five percent increase isn’t seen as much due to the insurance increases, O’Leary said they would see a small increase.
“I don’t think we overpay our people. And they’re in a living wage range.”
Galion hopes to keep the same insurance plan going forward.
“You can’t pay somebody $45 to 50,000 a year, and then have an insurance deductible of $5,000-7,000. If you have a bad health year as a family or individual, the last thing you need is you have to spend $5,000-7,000 before you have any insurance,” O’Leary explained.
Regarding the union agreement, Ohio Patrolman’s Benevolent Association was another topic on the agenda that took place. Ken Bodkins was the lone council member to vote no on the ordinance.
There will be the normal budgets for streets, parks, amongst everything else. Galion is looking at their options to try to remain flexible throughout the year.
“In the streets department where a little over half of the money comes from transfers in the general fund to the 201 fund,” O’Leary said. This is just one of the ways that the city has access to being able to make things work.
A way the city can try to save money is through getting their own utility costs out of the way early.
“Since we last met we are recommending we pay the utility bill in both water and sewer. It was something we did last year to make the budget work. It is not the end of the world but I think it would be a really bad practice if we keep doing it,” O’Leary said.
Running the sewer and water operations will take electricity for example, in which makes an outside cost. Paying it early would not bother next year’s budget, instead it would get ahead of some things. O’Leary points at it as a possible issue due to it being fitted in on this year’s budget, which could cause some concern going forward.
Galion can receive outside funding for up to $460,000 for example for roadways. O’Leary said it would originally come out of the city’s money, but it could be reimbursed as long as guidelines meet the funding.
These are some of the avenues the city has to help out with the upcoming budget in the year of 2023. The Special Council Meeting on Nov. 29 helped provide some clarity on some of the plans.
