Huntingburg Council approves pay increases and advertised budget

ByMatthew Crane Reading Time: 2 minutes

The Huntingburg Common Council met on Thursday night for their regular meeting.

-Huntingburg Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Nick Stevens told the council the special 175th Kickoff dinner and comedy show held July 13 resulted in $753 being given to the Herbstfest Committee.

-Sarah Flamion, chairperson for the Herbstfest Committee, reported the Herbstfest was very successful this year. Flamion was joined by Stevens in saying that all four days of the annual festival were very well attended. They credit the new and returning events, as well as the 175th anniversary of the city, for the success of the festival. Flamion also reported vendors at the festival averaged at least a 50% increase in sales over last year’s event. The committee will begin plans for next year’s event soon.

-The Council approved an amendment to the proposed Salary Ordinance for elected officials. In September the council stated elected officials would not receive a pay increase in the 2013 budget, however, at Thursday’s meeting the council stated the mayor and clerk/treasurer should receive the 1.5 percent increase proposed for city employees to remain in line with the city pay. This was approved unanimously.

-The Council also approved the Employee Salary Ordinance giving the city employees a pay increase of 1.5 percent.

The city’s budget was also approved for advertisement. For 2013 the budget for the city is $7,364,768 with a tax levy of $1,733,068 at the proposed rate of $1.2379 per $100 assessed value. This is the worst case scenario and Clerk/Treasurer Tom Dippel stated he expects it will be reduced to about $1.13 after the assessed value is released by the state sometime before Feb. 15, 2013.

The city budget increased in several areas (numbers rounded).

  • Huntingburg Police Department budget increased$62,000 for the additional officer’s pay and benefits. It also increased $10,000 for computer upgrades.
  • Street Department budget increased $25,000 for street projects including plans for improvement on Tenth Street.
  • Parks Department increased budget for utilities by about $20,000 to accommodate the Splash Park. They also included $25,000 in improvements on the Southside Park
  • Salary ordinance netted a $14,000 increase.
  • Each department included a 3 percent increase in budgets for fuel and insurance costs.

 

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