City budget sees huge jump

It is the beginning of a new fiscal year, and the City of Kimball recently passed a new budget. The budget for the 2014-2015 fiscal year is $24,809,594.95, a huge jump from the roughly $8 million the city spent last year.

“The budget that is proposed has to reflect not only the projects that we plan to do, but also have some room for emergency situations that may arise. We have to propose our budget and if we don’t plan for these projects and propose them, we won’t get the funding,” said City Administrator Daniel Ortiz.

The city has several planned projects to be completed this year. The event center will be remodeled and brought up to compliance with Americans with Disabilities Act (ADS) requirements. A sprinkler system will also be installed.

Another project that will be addressed is the south substation that connects to the WAPA line and supplies Kimball with its electricity.

“That equipment is old and needs to be replaced right away. We are taking care of that as soon as possible,” Ortiz said.

One of the issues that the city is running into concerning projects is the fact that so many of the city’s projects have been “quick fixed” so that machinery might last another year or so. The problem that the city is facing is that all of the equipment is roughly the same age and therefore all of it is needs to be replaced at the same time, according to Ortiz.

“Ideally you would want to stagger the obtaining of different equipment so that it doesn’t all come due at one time. Unfortunately that hasn’t been done here and all of it is requiring replacement at once,” Ortiz said.

There are several other projects that the city is aware that needs addressed, Ortiz said, but things must be prioritized. The budget also includes the railroad spur bond funds, which cannot be used.

“The thing is that when we propose a budget we have to have a purpose for the funds we are saying we will use. Also within the budget we have to include things like the LB840 funds. Those funds being bonded we can’t use them, however, they still reflect in the budget,” Ortiz said.

The city is aware that there are a lot of ongoing projects that must be addressed, which is why a capital improvement plan was made and put to use, Ortiz said.

“I asked all the department heads to think of the things that may need attention in the next three to five years and then rate those things according to the most crucial versus the things that could wait,” he said.

As a result, the Kimball Capital Improvement Plan was developed with everything on it from repairs to the public pool to obtaining tablets for the council to cut back and the amount of paper used on agendas for meetings. The items on the plan are ranked by the level of need and then spaced out over a five year period in which all the items can be accomplished.

“This prioritizing will allow us to get on top of situations and needs of the city so that we won’t be scrambling to come up with a solution when something breaks down on us randomly. This way we have a timeline and a prioritized list that will hopefully minimize surprises,” Ortiz said.

The largest number on the budget is the community development, at approximately $9 million. However, that includes the bonded funds from the LB840 funds, not all of the $9 million is available. There is about $3 million allotted for the electric utility and that involves the repairs and updates to the south substation. There is also $1 million towards culture and recreation, which is the event center renovations, and includes the grant funding received.

“Ultimately the budget is so high due to us trying to be prepared. We are not planning on spending 24 million, but we are making sure we are prepared for something that may come up unexpectedly,” Ortiz said.