At a special meeting of the Britton City Council on Tuesday night, the group discussed the budget and would eventually approve the first reading.
Per their discussions at the regular November meeting, the pool was a big talking point. Pool Manager Laken Werner had been asked to make around $20,000 in cuts to the pool budget. She ultimately decided to eliminate the morning and afternoon lap swim, which will result in a $2,340 savings. The concession stand and six concession and bathhouse employees will also be eliminated, a $18,175 savings. Werner added that Pepsi will supply food and drink vending machines there at no cost to the city. Rate increases for daily passes, season passes and swimming lessons were also discussed but no changes were made at that time. The council agreed to Werner’s other proposed changes which were reflected in the budget as it was approved for its first reading.
Various other areas of the budget were discussed. The tax levy as noted previously will be $565,000. Ultimately, the budgeted for expenses ($5,013,065) exceed the planned for revenues ($4,925,764) by around $24,000. Finance Officer Jennifer Athey noted that $24,000 of cash reserves money will go towards the general fund to cover that. Frederickson noted that considering there had been an error of more than $500,000 in budget estimates earlier this year, he is comfortable with where the city stands now. All councilmembers voted in favor of the first reading. The second reading will take place at the regular December meeting on the 11th.
An ordinance to reallocate some funds from the 2023 budget was also approved for its first reading. Around $194,000 was moved from the streets section of the budget to the tree disposal site, airport, pool and other parts of the budget.
In other business, Tom Farber was in attendance at the meeting to bring a couple of requests before the council. First, he spoke about a healthcare professionals recruitment assistance program. The program’s goal is to entice medical professionals to underserved areas. Farber explained that Britton would qualify for the program and that it could be used to help recruit a dentist. He added that he had been in contact with a dentist who is nearing the end of her schooling and may be interested in setting up a practice in Britton.
He went through the requirements for the program including what the dentist would receive (around $250,000 after a three-year commitment) and what the participating entities must contribute. The state would cover 75% of that cost but the community would be responsible for 25% which would be just over $60,000 after three years, or it could be paid yearly. Though the council was definitely interested in seeing a dental practice back in town, they also wanted to engage other entities, namely the county and businesses, in a discussion about potentially contributing to the cost. No decisions were made as of the meeting.
Farber also asked about planting trees around town as part of a Lions Club service project. He noted that the Lions would be interested in purchasing, planting and maintaining 30 trees and hoped to plant them in city boulevards. There was some hesitancy about the idea of planting in boulevards due to potential problems trees could eventually cause to utilities or maintenance equipment. The council and Public Works Supervisor George Flanery were more interested in having trees planted in some of the city parks, though Flanery said they would have to take out several existing trees first.
Frederickson spoke about a meeting he had had with officials from MiTek as far as their interest in buying land and putting up a larger building in town. (See the Nov. 15 Journal or our website for the full story on the scope of the potential project.) The mayor said they visited the old sale barn lots. He added that a price was not agreed to and the company expressed some concerns but was still interested. Fredrickson also noted that the city may have to update the plat of their property in that area as it is not current. The company said they will reach out in the near future regarding their plans.
In other council business, the group appointed Paul Symens to the library board. There is potentially one more opening on that board they hope to fill.
