Budget numbers looked at, new burn ordinance considered by Somerset Council

Jun. 14—The City of Somerset's council held the first reading of its proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year at Monday's meeting — a budget that has increased from the current fiscal year by $3 million.

The total 2023-23 budget is set at $101,739,905. A breakdown of departmental budgets is as follows:

General Fund: $28,560,030

Sanitation: $6,893,350

Natural Gas: $13,033,950

Water: $25,112,425

Wastewater: $12,813,800

Waterpark: $2,562,000

Fuel Center: $1,339,700

Travel and Tourism: $483,900

EMS: $9,481,500

The Virginia: $1,208,100

Municipal Aid (MAP) Funds: $251,150

The numbers within the budget have been studied over the past couple of weeks by council members over the course of two budget workshops, but the some councilors raised concerns over those numbers as presented Monday night.

Among those was councilor Jerry Wheeldon, who brought up a request made by Somerset Police Chief William Hunt to increase salaries in his department by $1 per hour.

"We've got a budget and I think that we need to get closer to balancing our budget," Wheeldon began. When looking at the $1 per hour raise, Wheeldon said he wanted to "make a motion to drop that down 50% for six months till we prove that we're doing something make our budget closer."

Somerset Mayor Alan Keck responded that he was concerned that dropping that raise would make it less than the cost of living raise that's included in the budget automatically.

Councilor John Ricky Minton later brought up a memo from the city that indicated that utility rates for the Sanitation Department would be going up for residential users.

"The sanitation is going from $10.56 to $15.56? ... That's more than the little bit that we talked about."

Keck responded that the numbers presented were correct, and confirmed that it would be voted on in the next council meeting "in two weeks."

Keck said that at this time the sanitation rate was the only utility increase, apart from natural gas rates "if it goes above a certain threshold."

The overall budget requires a second reading at a later date before council can vote to approve or deny. That second reading and vote will likely take place at the meeting scheduled for Jun 26.

Also at Monday's meeting, council found themselves needing to make adjustments to the current year's budget as well.

A first reading was held to amend the 2022-2023 budget in two departments. SomerSplash's revenues and expenditures would increase from $2,136,800 to $2,346,800, while the MAP fund account would increase from $276,100 to $316,100

That change will also require a second reading at a future meeting before being voted on.

Also seeing its first reading Monday was an ordinance that would change the city's burning ordinance.

The new ordinance requires that anyone who needs to burn a brush pile or other amount of materials must first get approval from the Somerset Fire Department, which will inspect the area and provide a permit to burn should fire officials agree to it.

Those who are issued permits will be required to produce the permit if requested by any member of the SFD or the Somerset Police Department, and failure to produce a permit means the fire department will have the right to immediately extinguish the fire.

Permits can be requested by calling 911 Dispatch.

Permits are not transferrable, and won't be issued in advance due to changing weather conditions. They can only be used for one location and one fire.

Fire pit fires will be allowed without a permit, but only if it is in a safe environment, ringed with fireproof material such as a metal ring, and are away from buildings, trees and other obstructions.

Those in violation of the ordinance can be denied permits for up to one year and fined between $100 and $250 per violation.

Carla Slavey can be reached at cslavey@somerset-kentucky.com