After Monday’s forum, panel set to review administrative and finance spending Thursday
By Damian Mann for Ashland.news
The Ashland Budget Committee began its deep dive into the city’s $383,731,807 biennial budget on Monday night.
By June, after review by the committee and public input, a budget must be adopted by the City Council that will provide the blueprint to pay for city services and capital projects for 2023-2025.
At the meeting, local residents and budget committee members expressed their views on everything from downtown beautification to a large amount of debt in the budget for various capital improvement projects.
“Why are we planning on $100 million of debt revenue?” asked Ashland resident Tom Hall.
Councilor Gina DuQuenne, who is on the budget committee, said, “We need to look at how we can get out of this debt without putting a burden on the residents of Ashland.”
The revenue to pay down debt is a larger amount than in last four biennial budgets.
The largest portion of the debt — $46.5 million — is to upgrade the water treatment plant.
City staff explained that many of the projects will be paid off over time through grants and other city funds.
The amount of debt being taken on by the city is comparable to other municipalities throughout the state in order to accomplish various large projects, city staff explained.
“Most municipalities have some level of debt,” said Mayor Tonya Graham, who is on the budget committee.
She said that Ashland, unlike many other cities, provides many of the utilities for its residents, such as water, electricity and the Ashland Fiber Network, so it has more infrastructure to maintain than most municipalities.
Under the proposed two-year budget, the largest portion — $165,326,04 — is for Public Works, which handles city utilities.
Ashland Municipal Electric Utility would be budgeted $37,256,783, followed by Parks at $30,149,949.
Fire and Rescue would get $27,465,214 and Police at $18,569,140. The remainder would pay for administration.
DuQuenne said she was concerned that local residents, some of whom struggle to pay bills, shouldn’t be saddled with increases in fees, saying she would prefer to cut some services.
City Manager Joe Lessard said franchise fees would cover debt related to some street projects, but DuQuenne said she was concerned the fees would impact many local residents.
Lessard said franchise fees are collected from companies that use city right-of-way and utility poles to provide services to their customers, such as Spectrum and phone companies. Franchise fees aren’t collected from residents.
He said even utilities owned by the city, such as Ashland Fiber Network, pay franchise fees as well.
Ashland resident Missy Kaminsky said she hoped the new budget would help promote the creative energy of Ashland and make it a better destination.
City staff indicated the new budget will provide about $500,000 a year in grants for downtown beautification projects, including a program to spruce up facades as well as a grant program for events.
Ashland resident Susan Hall said the previous biennial budget listed all the positions in the city along with salaries and benefits, but the new budget did not.
According to city staff, the salary information is listed on the city’s website.
The budget proposal will reflect various goals of the city, including wildfire risk reduction, economic development, housing affordability, customer service and providing an equity of access for all residents.
One of the economic goals to attract more tourism is building additional trails, finding ways to attract new business and supporting existing businesses.
Other upcoming meetings by the city will discuss the proposed budget:
• Thursday, May 4: Administration and Finance Fund Overview
• Thursday, May 11: Innovation & Technology and Public Safety Fund Overview
• Thursday, May 18: Parks & Recreation, Community Development and Public Works Fund Overview
• Thursday, May 25: Final Questions/Answers & Deliberations (if needed)
• The Citizens’ Budget Committee will make recommendations to City Council in June 2023.
The meetings are all set to run from 3 to 5 p.m. in the council chamber at 1175 East Main St. Proceedings are cablecast live on Channel 9 (or 180), streamed online at rvtv.sou.edu (RVTV Prime), and posted online at bit.ly/coavideos the day after the meeting.
Reach writer Damian Mann at dmannnews@gmail.com.
