Shelton council forwards budget ordinance and lodging-tax awards to March 17; $24,000 requested for railroad crossing design

Shelton budget coordinator and grant administrator Marie Blot told the City Council on March 3 that the city needs additional 2026 budget authority to include lodging-tax award recommendations and to cover extra design costs for a railroad crossing removal project.

"When we developed the 2026 budget, the lodging tax advisory committee had not yet met," Blot said, adding that Resolution 1424-1225 accepted $80,500 in award recommendations that the council should now add to the tourism fund. She also requested $24,000 be added to the capital improvement fund for additional design costs for the railroad crossing removal project and said the money would come from general fund ending funds.

The council recessed to a public hearing on the supplemental budget, heard Blot’s presentation, and then took up ordinance number 2039-0226 (an amendment to the annual budget). A council member moved and a second was made to forward ordinance 2039-0226 to the March 17 council meeting for further consideration. After a procedural clarification that the motion was to move the ordinance into action at the March 17 meeting rather than adopt it immediately, the motion carried by voice vote.

Blot said the lodging-tax awards and the railroad design funding would be considered at that March 17 meeting; she invited questions and offered to provide additional details ahead of that hearing.

Next steps: the ordinance and the supplemental budget requests will appear on the council’s March 17 agenda for action.