The North Royalton City Council introduced legislation at its November 17 meeting for the city’s 2021 budget. The ordinance was sponsored by Mayor Larry Antoskiewicz and placed on second reading. It was then placed on third reading at Council’s December 1 meeting.
Over the past several years, the budget discussions with city administrators and Council began in the fall of the previous year. Last year, however, the timeline shifted to the beginning of 2020 in order to allow for the new Mayor and Council to have input. According to Ohio law, Council must adopt its yearly budget by March 31 of that year.
A special Finance Committee meeting took place on December 1 to discuss the budget. Council was presented with the budget, prepared by the Mayor and North Royalton Finance Director, Eric Dean, after meetings with the various city department heads took place for input.
The city’s total budget includes the General Fund, various levy funds and enterprise funds. The overall 2021 budget totals $44,517,419.00, which is slightly higher than last year, at $43,975,811, according to Dean. Revenue collection for 2020 was forecasted at $16.4 million, after 2019 had a collection of $17.4 M. Dean said that the receipts for 2020 so far look to be better than the amount forecasted. Since the city hasn’t closed the books, the final number is not known at this time, although Dean anticipates about $17 million. “I think the federal money we got has helped us go into next year in good shape,” said Dean. “We have some cushion because of the funds we have received.”
The carry-over from 2020 into 2021 is expected to be $18.2 million, compared to $19.76 million last year. The General Fund carryover will be more than $4 million. Last year that carry-over was about $3 million. The current budget shows General Fund revenue projected to be just over $16 million. The expenditures budgeted for the General Fund are $17.3 million, according to Dean. Income tax makes up for almost 80% of the total General fund revenue. Antoskiewicz said that the budget, overall, is about the same as last year. He indicated that there were some added expenditures, such as the cost of the Master Plan and the increased rubbish contract, which affected this coming year’s budget. He also noted that although the Police Department will see several retirements in 2021, he has opted to hire three new officers early in the year, as the list that he has to choose from is shorter than normal. Because of that, there will be an overlap of employment for those three new hires.
The expenditures shown on the proposed 2021 budget include no wage increase for 2021. There is a wage increase shown, but that is due to an overlap of positions that were added to cover an overlap of retiring employees. There is also a higher contracted cost for dispatch services and rubbish collection, as well as property insurance and Board of Health costs. The 2021 road program is budgeted at $1.95 million, plus $230,000 from Fund #230, which has revenue from license plate fees. The road program includes major road projects. An additional $550,000 was allocated for minor road repairs. For 2020, the total road program was budgeted at $2.75 million. The road program actually costs the city $1.7 million. “That was the largest cut we made, when we got hit with the pandemic,” said Dean
Other projected expenditures for 2021 include the following:
About $635,000 for 1 tandem, 1 single axle dump truck with plow package for the Service Department; $182,000 for four vehicles, for the Police Department; $50,000 for one utility vehicle for the Fire Department; $25,000 for shower repairs and gear lockers for the Fire Department; $75,0000 for jail security door replacement and upgrade in clerk’s room for the Police Department. These are listed under the General Fund.
In addition, one Vac truck, at $450,000 for Stormwater Department, one single axle dump truck and Wastewater Treatment Plant A filters/disinfection and blower building, control building misc., for over $9 million for the Wastewater Department. These expenditures will be funded by Enterprise Funds.
“My main points regarding the budget are debt capacity and the bond rating remaining strong,” said Council President Paul Marnecheck. “I like that we’re investing in equipment, slowly growing the size of the fleet.”
Council is expected to have one more special Finance Committee meeting on the Budget before they vote on the ordinance.
By GLORIA PLEVA KACIK
Contributing Writer