Ste. Genevieve Police Chief, Fire Chief Make 2020 Budget Presentations
City of Ste. Genevieve police chief Eric Bennett and fire chief Kenny Steiger brought budgets before the Board of Aldermen during a budget work session last Thursday.
The aldermen reviewed the police budget, fire budget and rural fire fund budget prior to their regular meeting that night. …
Bennett’s police budget reflects the salary increases made possible by the passing of Proposition P in April. Related property tax collections will begin later this year.
Salaries increase from $459,434 in the fiscal year 2019 to $608,800 for FY 2020. This led a few other line items to also increase: FICA/Medicare deductions, from $35,147 to $47,338; employee insurance, from $134,995 to $144,827; and LAGERS retirement fund, from $11,017 to $15,828.
Bennett said that since the process is taking place earlier this year, some of his figures are not yet “hard numbers.” This includes knowing how much additional revenue will be generated by Proposition P.
“As advertised in the promotion of the property [tax increase], every dime of that will go towards salary and related expenses,” Bennett said. “So you’ll see some significant increases in some of the line items like LAGERS, which is the retirement program, unemployment insurance, FICA, those are all salary-based line items.”
He stressed that those line item increases would all be paid for with Proposition P money, not with any other city funds. …
Steiger presented a fire department general fund budget with $122,488 in total expenditures, up only slightly from $120,187 in fiscal year 2019.
“My budget has basically been the same since I took over as chief four or five years ago,” Steiger said. “Just a couple of thousand dollars change.”
He explained that he is asking for $1,000 more in vehicle insurance [$5,813 to $6,813], due to premium increases to cover the new ladder truck. Another $1,000 increase is in uniforms and protective clothing [$9,000 to $10,000].
See complete story in the July 3 edition of the Herald.