City Of St. Mary Budget Tabled, Meeting Set For September 24

The city of St. Mary does not yet have a budget for fiscal year 2020, but it does have a new city collector and an official new alderman.

The board voted to table the bill to adopt the budget for the fiscal year that begins on October 1.

The aldermen will meet again at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, September 24, to discuss the budget and then schedule a meeting that night for the purpose of adopting a budget.

The budget presented by city manager David Woods last week, which also had been presented to the board during its August meeting, had a shortfall of more than $61,000 in the general fund. Revenue was expected to be $102,710, while expenses for five departments — administration, police, fire, parks and cemetery — were listed at $164,283.

The city earlier this year liquidated some of its certificates of deposits to pay some of its bills, but the board since then increased water and sewer rates in order to meet the expenses for those departments.

Alderman Brian Helms said the board should look at cutting that deficit down before adopting the budget.

“I think we need to try to find a way to bring money in,” Alderwoman Jennifer Schwartz said. “We need to get creative.”

See complete story in the September 18 edition of the Herald.