Othello passes budget

OTHELLO - Othello is adding a new officer, purchasing police cars, paying for fireworks and hiring a recreation director next year.

All the items are included in the city's 2012 budget, which the council passed during a recent meeting.

The roughly $20 million budget wasn't changed from the previous meeting.

It includes the hiring of a new officer to fill in while the city hires and trains officers.

The police are replacing older cars, which were added to the city's surplus vehicles.

The city added $7,500 to it's budget to pay for fireworks and added a parks and rec director position.

Councilmember Marc Spohr asked about an about $950,000 windfall the city received. The money was divided between the city's general fund and the utility tax fund.

"What I'm trying to do is find out where our $950,000 windfall is," he said. "If we were projecting $1.2 million (in the general fund) and we ended up at $1.4 million that's $200,000 to the good. However this windfall was $450,000, so to me we've absorbed $200,000."

Spohr pointed out without the extra money, the city would have a $200,000 deficit.

Finance Director Mike Bailey agreed, saying union negotiations changed the amount the city paid for benefits.

Spohr opposed the budget, saying he didn't agree with increasing the fireworks budget, and didn't agree with spending $10,000 to start the process of ripping sidewalks out and planting trees.

"I adamantly disagree with $50,000 to help us get more natural gas and that is totally undefined how that money will be used," he said.

None of the other councilmembers spoke about the budget.