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Cochran council reviews outside-agency funding; agrees 5% increase for recreation
Summary
Council reviewed funding requests for outside partners: Airport Authority T‑hangar match ($66,667 one-third match; city to repay over three years), $8,900 spent for IDA engineering, a 5% recreation increase (~$4,000), and existing library, DDA and Chamber funding levels.
The Cochran City Council reviewed proposed funding for affiliated and outside organizations as part of FY2025'26 budget deliberations.
City Manager Richard Newbern said the Airport Authority proposed to cover the city's one-third obligation for a T-hangar project (one-third amount stated as $66,667) and that the city would repay that share over three years at roughly $22,200'2,300 per year. Newbern also reported the city paid $8,900 (not to exceed $10,000) for engineering assistance to the Industrial Development Authority's grant application; that application was not funded and could be refiled in 3'4 months.
Council Member Shane Savant proposed a 5% increase to Recreations Department funding (an increase of about $4,000 on a baseline of $80,000, which has remained unchanged since 2020); Council Member Carla Coley supported the increase and noted the recreation director currently lacks health benefits. The council reached consensus to add the 5% increase.
Newbern said the Tessie Norris Library did not submit a specific request; the city currently contributes about $36,000 to the library and $6,000 to the regional library system (totaling about $42,650). A letter from the Downtown Development Authority said it did not need additional city funding. Newbern explained the Chamber of Commerce is funded at $25,500 annually via Hotel/Motel tax revenues; the city receives about $21,200 in Hotel/Motel tax and supplements the remainder ($4,300) from the general fund. New RV parks were noted as a future source of additional Hotel/Motel revenue.
The council did not take formal votes on most outside-agency amounts at the special meeting beyond expressing consensus on the recreation increase; final budget decisions remain subject to upcoming work sessions and the June 10 adoption vote.
