After less than a month, the Jefferson City Council appears ready to approve the draft 2017 budget with very few changes from the mayor's draft.
At the Budget Committee meeting Thursday, council members opted to move the draft budget out of committee after removing several proposed changes made last week.
At last week's meetings, requests were made to re-institute the citywide internship program, fund a Police Department emergency notification system and rebuild the Fire Department's burn building, also known as the Hyde Park training tower. All of those requests were removed from the draft budget Thursday.
Of the requests made last week, only one made it to the committee's version of the draft budget - the motion from 2nd Ward Councilwoman Laura Ward to fund a second street worker position in the Public Works Department at a cost of $42,885.
The department had requested two street worker positions through pink sheets, but only one was funded in the mayor's draft budget. To fund the position, Ward opted to take a different, funded request of the Public Works Department for $150,000 to replace a tandum dump truck and plow blade. Ward said the remaining funds, roughly $107,000, would then go to the street materials budget.
The request was approved 6-3, with 1st Ward Councilman Rick Prather, 4th Ward Councilman Carlos Graham and 5th Ward Councilman Mark Schreiber opposed. Second Ward Councilman Rick Mihalevich was not present at Thursday's meeting.
Fourth Ward Councilman Glen Costales attempted a further change, looking to fund two part-time customer service specialists/adoption counselors at a cost of $10,400 each, through reducing the amount budgeted for veterinary services by $800 and taking the remaining $20,000 from the non-departmental budget where it was intended to be used for the old Missouri State Penitentiary. Costales motion died for lack of a second.
After that, the committee opted to adjourn but quickly changed course. Only a minute or two after adjourning, the committee decided to re-open the meeting to allow the balanced budget be voted out of committee and sent to the full council for approval, which was approved unanimously. Any remaining budget meetings that were previously scheduled are now canceled.
The bill approving the 2017 budget has already been introduced at the council level and is on the informal calendar awaiting approval, which could come as early as Sept. 6. But, noted Prather, other changes could come before that happens.
"The budget is never over until we've voted," Prather said.