Fountain Green reviews draft budget; tax increase tied to water and sewer transfers

Fountain Green officials reviewed the draft city budget at a work session, discussing pay adjustments for employees, line‑item changes after recent flood-related costs, and a tax increase that officials said is tied to transfer changes for the water and sewer funds.

Council and staff said the FY draft includes a modest, across‑the‑board pay increase for employees and that transfers from the water and sewer funds to the general fund have been set to zero, a change officials said is part of the reason for a tax increase included on the budget’s front page.

The discussion was presented as a line‑by‑line review of the budget packet. One speaker summarized the budget process, saying they and two colleagues met a month earlier to compare last year’s actuals to the draft and to ask staff follow‑up questions about large variances. “What we did was me and Allison and Michelle met a month ago, went through it, and raised stuff, lowered stuff,” the speaker said.

Officials pointed to several specific items. One line for street equipment (account referenced in the packet as 4410250) appeared much higher in a recently printed copy than an earlier printout; staff said the difference was likely due to additional expenditures recorded after the earlier version was printed. A different line showed $8,300 for replacement leaf springs for trucks; staff explained the parts buy was to keep an extra set in inventory because wear from cornering and heavy salting causes frequent replacement.

On staffing costs, the council agreed with a multi‑year approach to cost‑of‑living adjustments. One participant said Fountain Green has followed a roughly 2–3% annual increase in recent budgets, noting that some peer city managers were budgeting increases in the 2–5% range this year. “We agreed 2 years ago that if we could do it somewhere between a 2 and 3 percent raise, that’s about where we figured in the budget,” a speaker said.

The group also discussed PNC wages and a named employee, with one speaker noting earlier discussion in a prior meeting and asking for clarification on a specific wage allocation.

Officials described the tax increase as being “figured in on the very first page” of the draft and reiterated that transfers from the enterprise funds (water and sewer) to the general fund had been zeroed out in the draft presented to the group. No formal vote or budget adoption occurred during the work session; participants said the draft would be finalized and placed on the council agenda for formal action.

The work session closed after the review. Staff and members agreed to follow up on printing dates and recent expenditures that caused variances between packet copies, and to bring the draft to the council for further consideration.