The Berea City Council unanimously adopted its 2024-2025 annual budget Tuesday evening, which includes investment in city personnel.
Total General Fund revenues for the year are projected to be $21.5 million, compared to $17.1 million in the previous fiscal year. A bulk of those revenues are comprised of approximately $5.4 million in grant proceeds, along with a $200,000 increase in collected tax revenues, and a $500,000 increase in license and permit revenues.
Projected General Fund expenditures for the year are estimated to be $24.2 million, much of which is due to city investment in personnel. Six new employees were budgeted for next year, including three police officers, two firefighters, and one public works employee. Additionally, a 3.5 percent cost-of-living increase is budgeted for city staff. The price tag for employee healthcare, meanwhile, increased by 19.6 percent, according to the city’s draft budget.
The budget increases major investments in infrastructure, including $240,000 for a new snowplow for the Public Works Department, and approximately $5.8 million for capital improvement projects, including the Ellipse Street shared use path, the Scaffold Cane shared use path, and the Kenway extension project, which will connect the Rose Lawn and Dixie Park Subdivisions to the Berea Bypass.
During the work session prior to Tuesday’s business meeting, Councilman Jerry Little cautioned that the gap between revenues and expenditures can seem confusing, but that the city is still budgeting in a fiscally prudent manner. For example, Little said there are projects, such as the Ellipse Street shared use path, which get budgeted for one fiscal year, but the money doesn’t actually get spent because the project is delayed for one reason or another. Because of that, expenditures for that project are simply carried over to the next year in the hope that the project will be able to start.
After meeting operating expenses, the budget continues to feed the city’s two contingency funds. According to the budget plan, $3.7 million will be set aside in the 2025 budget in the Fund Balance Reserve, a so-called “rainy day” fund that will enable the city to continue functioning for months in the event of a state or national emergency. Additionally, the city’s Capital Sinking Fund is projected to reach 2025. That fund is used for spending on large equipment, as was the case when the Berea Fire Department recently purchased a $1.57 million fire truck on short notice, saving the city approximately $300,000, along with reduced costs down the road because of changing regulations on emission standards.
In her annual budget message, City Administrator Rose Beverly noted that revenues are strong, and department heads and staffers are diligent in their efforts to keep costs down. That effort must continue, Beverly said.
“We are facing significant challenges to meet the needs of our community while keeping taxes low,” Beverly stated. “It is important to manage expenses and have money left over at the end of the year to keep reserves healthy.”
At the conclusion of the meeting, Finance and Audit Committee Chair Steve Caudill noted the budget process went smoothy, thanks in part to the year-long efforts of staffers and department heads who manage their budgets effectively.
“We’re ending this year, and I feel like we’re going to have a great year again,” Caudill said. The 2024-2025 fiscal year budget takes effect on July 1.
In other business, the council unanimously adopted a resolution allowing a contract for professional services for the proposed Farristown Community Center, a Community Development Block Grant project. The measure authorizes Mayor Bruce Fraley to execute the contract to help navigate technical issues and move the project forward. Part of the purpose of the center is to highlight Berea’s local African American history.
Meanwhile, Sharyn Mitchell and Felicia Ballard of the Berea Human Rights Commission invited citizens to a Juneteenth celebration on Sunday at 3 p.m. at the Berea City Park Annex (near the skatepark). The event will feature several performers and a number of food trucks. Mitchell invited citizens to bring a lawn chair to enjoy the free performances.
At the start of the meeting, Councilman Jim Davis offered an opening prayer in which he asked citizens to keep Vi and Jack Farmer, as well as the rest of the Farmer family, in their prayers in the wake of the death of local artist and businessman Steve Farmer. Davis noted Farmer’s contribution as an ambassador for local arts, Kentucky, and Berea in his travels to Hokuto City, Japan, as a representative in a sister-region program between Madison County and that city.
The council also unanimously adopted an ordinance authorizing the revision of personnel pay grades and the municipal pay scale. Beverly has been an advocate for the change over the last year, stating the city needs to keep salaries competitive in order to keep employees from seeking jobs at other agencies.
City of Berea, KY 