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Sabula council reviews budget; considers selling cemetery and hotel/motel tax
Summary
At a Jan. 8 work session, Sabula officials reviewed department budget requests and discussed revenue options that would avoid raising resident fees, including selling the city cemetery, pursuing a hotel/motel tax and deferring vehicle purchases; the city clerk will rework the numbers and report back.
Sabula Mayor Troy Hansen called a work session to order at 4:00 p.m. on Jan. 8, 2025, to review the city's draft budget and requests from department heads.
Council members focused on ways to increase revenue without raising charges to residents. The council discussed three primary options: selling the city cemetery to reduce mowing and upkeep costs; moving forward with a hotel/motel tax; and cutting or deferring requests for a new squad car and a public works truck while placing the funds in a reserve so the city can pay off a fire truck.
Mike O'Hara moved to open the work session and Dave Ward seconded; the minutes record "All ayes" and the motion carried. The budget review that followed was discussed collectively by council members and staff rather than attributed to a single speaker.
Clerk Lynn Parker will rework the budget figures based on those directions and report back to Mayor Hansen and the council with updated numbers and options. The minutes record that Teena Franzen moved to adjourn later in the meeting, seconded by Mike O'Hara; the minutes again show "All ayes." Individual roll-call votes were not recorded in the minutes.
The work session minutes list Jim Phillips as arriving at 4:15 p.m.; Jeremy Diercks was recorded as absent. No final budget decisions or ordinances were adopted at the session; the council asked staff for revised budget figures that will inform future action.
