by James Jordan, Sumner Newscow — The Wellington City Council talked about the upcoming budget for about three hours Monday. The council still needs to trim some items and decide what to do with various funds, but it looks like the city will not have any tax increase.

Interim City Manager Shane Shields said the city’s valuation has increased some, about $1 million. That would mean if the city keeps the property tax levy as it is the city would take in about $34,000 more than it did last year.

Golf course funding, police and fire, as well as employees in general, were the big ticket items that still need to be hashed out.

The council tentatively planned another work session for July 11, and they have two regular meetings in July, to continue discussions. The budget has to be published by the first of August, leaving time for a public hearing before the final vote in August.

No actions were taken Monday, but some general consensus did emerge.

Mayor Shelley Hansel said her top priority was to make sure city employees got a cost of living raise, which they did not get last year. Two percent was a number talked about.

One issue the city faces is having a lot of employees, who have been there for several years and are at the top end of the pay scale.  Their only chance at a raise is a cost of living adjustment.

The police department is asking for a six percent increase for police officers to make the city competitive with other cities in the state. Police Chief Tracy Heath said he tries to recruit top people, but finds it hard to get them when other cities are paying more. He said he recently lost one to Derby for that reason.

Councilman Vince Wetta suggested four percent for the police, instead of six, which would save the city $20,000 over the course of the year. The police officers would also get the two percent COLA, so with Wetta’s suggestion the total would be six percent instead of the eight originally asked for.

Shields said the city needed to also decide on the amount it wants to keep in reserve as a contingency fund. The goal has been 15 percent of the total budget, which would be $1.1 million. Last year it turned out to be $790,000.

The city will also have to decide how much to transfer from the utility fund to the general fund. That was what created an issue a year or so ago, when the city had done that too much and found itself in a financial bind. Still, some transfer is normal and to be expected.

Council member Kelly Hawley said she wanted to keep the capitol fund going, which the city started a few years ago to buy big ticket items and improvements for the city in general.

Street repairs, especially to Harvey St and 9th St. were discussed. The city hopes to fund some street repairs this year.

The golf course is also asking for more money. The subsidy for 2016 was $52,000 and it was asking for $72,000. There is a lot of old equipment that needs to be replaced. The council discussed a lease option that could get equipment at a lower cost than buying new equipment, though they would pay the same over the long term.

The city fire and ambulance service is asking for a new ambulance which will cost around $190,000. The city has 2007 and 2008 models. Chief Tim Hay said he has a 2013 model that is good, but he said he would be asking for another one next year as well.

He also addressed the overtime issue, which is a sizable amount of money, and is often questioned.

Hay said when the department mans the fire station 24-hours a day, overtime is required by federal law, and that accounts for much of the overtime spent. He said he has no control over that aspect. The normal overtime like transfers to Wichita, is not that great, and he said he tries to control that more.

He said it would not help to hire additional employees because of the rules concerning fire men being on duty a certain number of hours in a row.

The budget also includes a two percent increase in water and sewer rates that was passed last year, and it to go up each year, unless the council takes action to stop the increase.

The city may also give the animal shelter $25,000 to hire a director. They have the money to build a shelter, and have the land, but feel they need a director to get things going before it is built.

The council directed Shields to take the raw numbers, and what he believed to be the consensus, and put together a tentative budget. That should not be a lot different than the numbers he presented Monday.

The council will have at least one more work session meeting on its budget.

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