Grayson approves first reading of budget

Aug. 26—GRAYSON — The Grayson City Council met on Wednesday and voted to approve the first reading of the city budget for the 2022-23 year.

Grayson Mayor George Steele said there will be another called meeting within the next several days to hold the second reading, and the council will have the opportunity to discuss the budget again, suggest possible changes, and vote to approve.

All council members were present for the vote except council member Pearl Crum. The vote to approve the budget was four yes and one no, with council member Willis Johnson (who replaced council member Jerry Yates) being the single no vote.

The city has wrestled with the budget over the past several weeks, attempting to justify proposed expenses such as much-needed pay raises (to bring city employees up to a wage competitive with other cities), maintain the necessary level of public safety and security, and ensure that current necessary city projects can be completed as needed.

The current budget represents compromises and concessions across all departments, and gives the city a balanced budget for the upcoming fiscal year.

Council member Troy Combs said some of the items in the budget represent "one-time purchase" items that, although similar purchases may be necessary in the future, do not represent money that will need to be spent each year as part of an ongoing annual budget.

American Rescue Plan Act funds (federal funds) were used to cover some of these purchases, which effectively reduced the city's overall expenditures by not forcing the city to expend its own revenue. All ARPA funds must be committed by the end of 2024 and actually spent by 2026.

"We were still able to make purchases for our departments such as bunker gear for the fire department, and an incinerator for our police dpartment," Combs said. "We just weren't able to purchase everything our departments needed at this time."

One thing cut from the budget, however, was a proposed new building that would double as a storage facility for fire department gear and as an evidence lockup for the police department, Combs said. That project alone represented $250,000 in the previous budget. Other concessions made to balance the budget was to give police officers a 10% raise (approximately $2 per hour) instead of the proposed $5 per hour raise.

(606) 326-2655 — cromans@dailyindependent.com