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Warren projected budget set at nearly $100M

Finance committee to discuss Tuesday

WARREN — City council will begin having formal discussions about the 2022 city budget during a finance committee meeting at 3 p.m. Tuesday in council chambers.

Members have had the detailed budget documents since Nov. 22.

Although council President Jim Graham asked council members to bring questions they may have about the budget, more than one have said they are satisfied with the document that they’ve seen.

Warren Mayor Doug Franklin called next year’s budget “status quo.”

“If you take out the rescue plan funds, it is only slightly more,” Franklin said.

The city is requesting approval of a total budget of $99,669,719. This includes general fund revenues of $28,455,758, enterprise fund revenues of $36,301,905 and $12,923,053 in special revenue funds.

Enterprise fund departments — water, wastewater, and environmental services — earn their incomes by charging customers fees. They are not financed through the city’s general fund, which earns the majority of its money through tax collections.

Next year’s general fund projection is lower than the $28,995,780 that was projected for this year.

From 2018 through 2020, the city’s average general fund budget revenue was $29,337,707. The only year the city’s general fund budget revenue was less than next year’s projected amount was 2020, when it had revenue of $28,390,868.

Tom Gaffney, Warren’s tax administrator, expects the city to collect slightly more than what was projected for 2021.

“We projected raising $21,080,000 in tax revenues in 2021,” Gaffney said. “We collected about 97 percent of that amount by Dec. 3, so I would expect by the end of the year we will have slightly more than that amount.”

The city collected approximately $20,493,938 by Dec. 3. It needs about $586,062 to finish the year with a balanced budget.

Gaffney said the income tax office is projecting a slight uptick in taxes to be collected in 2022.

Warren is projected to collect $21,099,000 in taxes in 2022.

POLICE

The Warren Police Department’s total 2022 budget request is $9,413,777. Its projected budget for 2021 was $8.4 million.

The majority of the department’s budget is used for wages, salaries and benefits, which represents $7.4 million of this year’s budget. The 2022 budget request lowers that amount to about $7.3 million.

Overtime costs in the police-uniform division have dropped from previous years. As of Nov. 22, overtime costs were $133,023, which is less than the $175,000 that was budgeted for this year. Next year’s projected overtime budget for the police department is $200,000. The uniformed division’s overtime in 2020 was $211,143.

The police department earned $43,593 in forfeitures in 2021.

Next year, the city is expecting to see more dollars tied to vehicle towing. Officials are projecting the city will earn $67,500 in storage charges in 2022 from the opening a city tow yard.

FIRE AND HEALTH

The city’s fire department is requesting $6.9 million for 2022. Its projected wages and benefits are $6.3 million.

The department spent $6.5 million in salaries, wages and benefits in 2020.

The fire department’s overtime expenses, as of Nov. 22, were $313,362. In 2020, the department had $186,966 in overtime expenses.

The health department wants $1.6 million for 2022.

Its nursing division has seen an increase in the amount spent on salaries and wages every year since 2019, when its salaries and wages were $148,471. Salary and wages in the nursing division increased to $173,945 in 2020 and to $182,890 in 2021.

The mayor’s projected budget has salaries and wages in the department at $201,459 in 2022. The total projected budget for the nursing division is $251,359 in 2022.

CONSTRUCTION

Warren expects to spend $8.5 million from its capital projects fund on construction projects in 2022.

Through Nov. 22, the city spent nearly $1.1 million for construction projects. From 2018 to 2020, the city spent only $266,712 from its capital projects funds for construction projects.

Work on resurfacing streets will have a lower priority next year, according to budget projections. The mayor’s budget as proposed sets aside nearly $1.3 million from the capital projects fund for street resurfacing.

The city spent a total of $4,846,621.04 from 2018 to 2020 for street resurfacing, which is an average of $1.6 million per year.

Water Pollution Control is asking for a budget of $16,696,174. The largest portion of its budget, nearly $6.4 million, will be for capital expenditures, including its multi-phase improvement project.

Earlier this year, city council approved increasing rates for Water Pollution Control customers at 6 percent per year for the next six years to pay for the department’s planned upgrades.

PANDEMIC SPENDING

The city is budgeting $6.4 million from the Coronavirus Fiscal Recovery Fund for 2022.

From Jan. 1 through March 20, the city spent approximately $1.3 million in Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act funds, according to city records. More than $897,000 of the money was spent on payroll for public health and safety employees and $372,394 was spent on personal protective equipment.

Warren’s Community Development Department allocated $375,529 for public-service projects related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

City Auditor Vince Flask said approximately $700,000 has been allocated from such funds for a variety of projects, including $50,000 for equipment and maintenance, $50,000 for operational materials and $600,000 for capital expenditures.

The city used $264,250 to replace a roof at Packard Music Hall that occurred during the vaccination clinics, and $228 was used for public notices.

Franklin said the CARES Act rules allowed the city to use some of its funds to recover employment expenses connected to the pandemic. A coronavirus response team did work related to the pandemic.

To prepare to spend pandemic relief money, the administration hired a Youngstown-based company, Economic Action Group, to help assemble a survey used on the city website, as well as monitor a series of community meetings discussing use of the funds. The city has agreed to pay EAG no more than $25,000 for its work on the project.

Administration officials have not stated how the more than $28 million in American Rescue Plan funds will be incorporated into next year’s budget. Warren received $14,340,072 this year. The remainder will be delivered in 2022.

Councilman Ron White, D-7th Ward, said he supports next year’s budget proposal after his initial reading.

“I want to find out how the ARP funds are to be used in the next budget,” White said. “How will the administration use the money? Will it be used to fill budget issues or to do one-time, but needed, projects?”

Councilman Gary Steinbeck said he is 100 percent behind the proposed budget.

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