Othello passes $21.6m budget for 2021

OTHELLO — The Othello City Council on Monday unanimously approved the city’s roughly $21.6 million budget for 2021.

“This is an aggressive budget, and it includes a lot of projects,” said Othello Finance Officer Spencer Williams during an online meeting Monday evening. “There’s a lot going on this year.”

The council, which has been working on the 2021 budget for the last few months, approved the proposal without discussion.

The budget includes $6.9 million for the city’s general fund — which includes city administration, law enforcement, fire protection and parks and recreation — $3.2 million for the street fund, $4.6 million for the city’s municipal water system, $3.4 million for sewer, $1.5 million for solid waste disposal, and $689,000 in the city’s dedicated law and justice capital fund.

The water, sewer and solid waste portions of the budget are funded by the fees charged to city residents for the services, while the law and justice capital funds come from a dedicated sales tax approved by Adams County voters several years ago.

Among the projects included in the 2021 budget are nearly $1 million in work on the city’s water system, roughly another $1 million in sewer improvements, and $620,000 for street improvements. In addition, Othello has budgeted for a police dispatcher, a second school resource officer, replacement police cars and has socked away another $120,000 toward buying a new fire truck.

“This is a lot of money for the council to appropriate,” Williams said.

Charles H. Featherstone can be reached at [email protected].