BRITTON COUNCIL APPROVES FIRST READING OF BUDGET

    At last Wednesday’s Britton City Council meeting, the council took important steps toward approving next year’s budget, a process that has been challenging to navigate as the city faced a significant shortfall. The first reading of the budget was scheduled for that evening, though a few key decisions remained to be finalized beforehand.
    In the area of annual contributions, the council decided to not allocate their regular contributions to entities that had requested them, such as Britton Area Chamber, the Britton Baseball/Softball program, and the Prayer Rock Museum. Glacial Lakes Area Development was budgeted to receive their requested amount of $21,000.
    The council made additional fee increases affecting water usage. The late fee was increased from $5 to $10. The base rate for out-of-town hookups was increased by $5. The service fee for turning water on and off was increased from $10 to $20. Overall water rate increases had already been approved in previous months. 
    Other fee increases included adding a $25 minimum fee to flatwork permits rather than just the five cent per square foot rate. The council briefly discussed requiring a permit for unlicensed golf carts. There is some concern about the number of golf carts on the city streets, especially those being operated by minors. City Attorney Justin Scott was asked to put together a proposal to be introduced at the next meeting. 
    In the area of salaries, the council discussed a law that would affect the salaries of Library Director Sonya Lang and Event Center Coordinator Laken Werner. Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Labor announced an update to the Fair Labor Standards Act overtime rule that substantially expands mandatory overtime pay for salaried workers. The new overtime rule salary threshold increases to $58,656 as of Jan. 1, 2025. The salaries of Lang and Werner would need to be raised to that rate or they would need to be reclassified. Rather than substantially increase their salary, the two employees were moved to an hourly rate of pay which was figured into next year’s budget with the standard 3% raise. 
    Following those discussions, the first reading of the appropriations (budget) ordinance was passed. It will go through another reading at the December meeting at which time it can also be adopted. A supplemental ordinance for the 2024 budget also went through its first reading, as is customary at this time of year. 
    The council also approved a supplemental ordinance for the 2024 budget to reallocate funds across various city departments. This annual adjustment allows the city to cover budget overspending in certain departments by shifting unused funds from others. This year’s ordinance will reallocate a total of $122,819, with $74,819 within the general fund, $10,000 in the water fund, and $38,000 in the sewer fund. This reallocation helps ensure that essential services and projects stay on track while maintaining fiscal balance across all departments.
    Both the 2025 budget ordinance and the 2024 supplemental ordinance will be published in the paper following their approval at next month’s meeting. 
    In other board matters, Mayor Clyde Fredrickson noted that the city had recently been approached by Symphony Wireless. The company purchases cell tower leases and thus is proposing to purchase and manage the leases the city has with Verizon, T-Mobile and AT&T. They would pay the city upfront and then receive the monthly or annual payments from the telecom companies. The contract would last 20 years. The council agreed to look over a potential contract with Symphony and discuss it further at a future meeting. 
    In project updates, an ISG engineer noted that Dahme Construction has paved the disturbed areas where the sanitary sewer project had taken place. A punch list of outstanding items for the project will be compiled before the project can be closed out. A payment of $216,252 to Dahme was approved for the project. The final pay order for the airport fuel system in the amount of $22,305 was also approved. 
    A contingent from the Britton Baseball and Softball program was at the meeting again. They again discussed their lighting project which they are planning to fund themselves in addition to making use of grant funds. The city would still have to temporarily contribute around $120,000 for the project until the grant funds come in at which time the city would be reimbursed. 
    Jesse and Pat Bolzer appeared before the council convened as the zoning board. They were requesting a variance to put in a fence at their home as required by their daycare insurance provider. The variance is necessary as the fence would go ten inches outside of their property line in the right of way. The board approved the variance. The council passed Ordinance #613 amending chapter 17.64. The amendment added new language to the planning and zoning rules requiring people looking for a variance to locate and uncover their property pins or have pins set. 
    The next council meeting will take place Monday, Dec. 9 at 6:30 p.m.