Belpre City Council reviews draft 2025 budget; flags police insurance change, auditing discrepancies and planned capital purchases

Belpre City Council met in a budget workshop to review the draft 2025 general fund budget and discuss several items that council members and staff said need follow-up, including a drop in police hospitalization costs after an insurance change, unexplained auditing-software differences, a requested increase in a community-center contract, and planned capital purchases such as two police cruisers and a heavy rescue vehicle.

The council and staff focused first on reconciling numbers in the draft budget. Staff reported differences between what was placed into the city’s accounting/auditing software and the figures that software produced, and that the gap totaled “a hundred thousand dollars plus,” according to a staff exchange during the meeting. That discrepancy touched multiple departments and prompted requests for further review of how accounting items are entered and how project and loan costs are tracked.

The meeting included repeated discussion of the police department’s employee benefits. Staff reported the hospitalization (insurance) line for the police changed substantially during the most recent update — from roughly $263,000 in an earlier draft to roughly $100,000 in the current draft — because the department’s coverage was moved from the previous plan. Susan (staff member) said officers “were kicked out of the Kroger Union for health insurance” and described ongoing problems with access and network providers for employees. She also said some officers still do not have insurance cards and that the new plan appears to offer narrower provider options.

Mister Albrecht (staff member) advised that employees must initiate a complaint with the body he called “CERV” to trigger a review that could let the city support affected employees. “They have to take the first step of filing a complaint with the CERV,” Albrecht said.

Council members pressed for clarity about who negotiated or communicated the coverage change and whether the union had been involved. Council discussion recorded disagreement about the union’s role: some council members said the union did not negotiate the switch and would need to engage directly with members and plan administrators. No formal legal determination or vote on the matter was recorded in the transcript.

On contracts and services, Mayor asked that two members of the finance committee meet with staff to review a proposed sanitation software support contract and to break out how the accounting-software vendor’s fees will be distributed across funds. The mayor also presented a proposed contract increase for the Emule Center; she said the center requested an increase to $50,000 from prior funding (the packet referenced about $48,050 historically). Council did not record a formal vote on that increase during the workshop.

Capital and equipment needs were also discussed. Staff said two police cruisers were budgeted and that the city needs to start procurement through a statewide vendor because one cruiser was totaled after a crash. The mayor asked for a voice vote to begin the procurement process, but the transcript does not record a completed vote. Staff also reported that a heavy rescue vehicle acquisition was included under EMS capital/levy funds and that other capital items (a snow-plow-equipped truck, a previously purchased wheel loader with an outstanding loan) need clearer line-item tracking in the new accounting system.

Council members and staff repeatedly noted that revenue projections remain uncertain and that the budget figures are subject to change as revenues are finalized and outstanding contract or loan records are reconciled. Staff said the city is working with the accounting software vendor (VIP) to ensure projects and loans appear correctly in the system going forward.

The workshop closed with a list of follow-up tasks: (1) finance staff to reconcile the auditing-software discrepancies and provide a line-item explanation for the $100,000-plus gap; (2) two finance-committee members to meet with the mayor and staff about the sanitation software support contract and vendor fee distribution; (3) staff to continue working with the union and counsel to clarify the police insurance change and to advise affected employees about next steps; and (4) staff to begin procurement steps for the two police cruisers pending council authorization. No formal ordinances, budget-adoption votes, or contract awards were recorded in the transcript excerpt.

The council said it will resume work as revenues and outstanding contract details are clarified.