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Mayor: 'The state of the city is good,' but 2024 closed with a small budget shortfall
Summary
At the Feb. 27 council meeting, the mayor said Cherokee Village finished 2024 with about $3.2 million in revenue and roughly $3.3 million in expenses (a deficit near $25,000), highlighted grant wins and equipment purchases, and previewed planned software and records upgrades estimated at $5,000–$7,000.
The mayor delivered Cherokee Village’s 2024 State of the City report at the Feb. 27 council meeting, saying, “the state of the city is good” while outlining last year’s finances and department activity. He told the council the city received about $3.2 million in revenue and incurred about $3.3 million in expenses, leaving a budget deficit of roughly $25,000, which he said was under 1 percent of the total budget. He said part of the shortfall was driven by unplanned air-conditioner replacements at City Hall and fire stations that added about $50,000 in costs.
The mayor said sales-tax receipts increased in 2024 and city staff negotiated higher interest rates at local banks to maximize earnings. He reported operational details across departments: the fire department answered roughly 79 calls in 2024 (about 56 fire-related, with the remainder medical), took delivery of a 2025 Ford F-550 paid for with federal ARPA/CAR funds, and completed an engine rebuild on Engine 2 (a 2008 Kenworth). The fire auxiliary launched a scholarship program and hosted community events including an Easter egg hunt and pancake breakfast.
The police department’s 2024 activity included 5,734 calls for service, about 138 arrests, 52 reported accidents and approximately 243 citations; the mayor said the department purchased two new Ford police trucks and new in-car computers using a mix of grant and city funds and had obtained about $90,000 in grant awards with the help of a new grant writer. The city has begun upgrading police camera systems and purchasing equipment intended to improve officer safety.
On administrative technology, the mayor described plans to consolidate and rebuild the city’s accounting database managed through CSA. He said the current system contains many duplicate vendor and account entries dating to about 2008 and that CSA estimated a rebuild and consolidation would cost roughly $5,000–$7,000 and could take up to two months to schedule. He and staff also discussed bringing the Laserfiche document-storage system into an off-site/cloud configuration to improve access and reduce load on local servers.
The mayor closed by thanking staff and volunteers for ongoing services and community fundraising. He said the city will bring any concrete cost estimates for software/database work to the council for approval when they are available.
