The Shadow
Interim Covington City Manager Clay Goodman presented the city’s proposed $24,603,934 fiscal year 2019-2020 budget to city council during a Tuesday evening work session.
The proposed amount of $24,603,934 is a difference of slightly over 4 percent and $1,024,922 over the fiscal year 2018-19 budget of $23,579,012.
The budget includes four funds. They are general ($18,515,550), water ($2,319,500), wastewater ($2,028,884) and solid waste ($1,740,000).
It was stated in the document presented to council Tuesday that the proposed budget is funded with no increase in tax rates or utility rate fees.
It was also stated during Goodman’s budget presentation that, “The city’s infrastructure demands could easily support and justify large increases in the four funds, no such increases have been recommended.”
Goodman made it a point to emphasize other things that needed to be done to address other infrastructure needs for the city.
“It is recommended that city staff conduct a 10-year capital improvement plan (CIP) to address unfunded infrastructure needs. The CIP will include identified capital expenditures and revenues to fund these future projects,” Goodman stressed.
Another key item in the proposed city budget fell under the education category.
It was stated in the document that was given to council that Covington City Public Schools requested a total budget in the amount of $12,311,072.
During deliberations for fiscal year 2018-2019, the city reduced the schools’ fiscal year 2018-2019 request by $150,000.
For fiscal year 2019-2020, the Covington City Public School System requested that the city restore the funds that were reduced the previous year.
It was stated that the city’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2019-2020 does not include the restoration of these funds.
The city’s proposed fiscal year 2019-2020 budget also includes a reduction in the city’s school contribution of $256,501.
“This reflects the amount of State Lottery proceeds which were allocated by the state to the Covington City Public School System,” a statement in the budget documentation read.
The statement went on to continue, “As per a verbal agreement between the city and the school board, the school board at time of incurring debt for new schools agreed to reduce the city’s annual contribution by the amount received from the lottery funds up to $300,000.”
A?closing point in the education portion of the budget summary had Goodman stating, “The school superintendent [Melinda Snead-Johnson] and I have discussed opening negotiations between the city and the school division regarding a funding formula. This should be a topic for future discussions between city council and the school board.”
Goodman then gave closing remarks to wrap up the budget presentation.
“The budget is balanced with available resources and represents continued support to maintain current level of city services,”?he said.
“The city, along with many other Virginia local governments, continue to experience stagnant local revenues with growing demands being placed on the city due to state mandated costs and infrastructure demands,” Goodman continued.
Goodman then gave credit to the city departments for repeatedly “doing more with less,” when that challenge presents itself.
Goodman closed out his final remarks by saying, “It is strongly recommended that the council and the new city manager and city staff work together to develop a sustainable finance plan to address growing and new infrastructure demands.
In other items addressed during Tuesday’s work session:
— City council presented proclamations to the friends and family of the late William “Boo” Stewart and Melvin Persinger;
— Goodman recognized and thanked city council for their guidance and support during the budgetary process, thanked city employees for providing quality service during a difficult budgetary year and thanked each department head, along with David Bryant and his staff, for assistance in preparing the budget documentation;
— City council approved numerous items that will be included on the agenda for the regular meeting to be held Tuesday, May 14.
