The Salem City Council has approved a nearly 21-million-dollar fiscal year ’24 budget. The unanimous vote came after no comments were made at a public hearing and without any further changes by members of the council.
The budget has expenses of about $ 2.2 million over listed revenue, but City Manager Rex Barbee says that’s because of grant money being spent down on projects and conservative revenue estimates.
“We will take a close look to see exactly how many vehicles we want to let go the first year to replace whatever the case may be. We have some that are in desperate need and some that can probably hold off a few more years. We are trying not to bite off too much.”
Barbee says union contracts with the police and public works employees will provide about a four percent wage. The same increase will be given to non-union employees. The budget adds one new employee, a sixth telecommunicator at the police station.
Among the projects are improvements to the dog park in Bryan Memorial Park and soccer field/parking lot improvements at Tully Park, and $50,000 towards the new soccer complex on South College.
Street improvements include the overlay of North College and North Jefferson as well as curb and gutter replacements on sections of Woodland and Hawthorne. The half-cent sales tax will pay for resurfacing of Kell Street from Route 37 to College as well as College from Broughton to Boone.
Money is also included to complete the South Broadway waterline replacement project.
