After multiple budget workshops, little fanfare, and no public comment, the Minden City Council unanimously passed the 2018-19 budget Tuesday night.
A public hearing for the $33.3 million budget was the first item on the council’s agenda, but no one came forward to offer comment or ask a question.
Once the hearing was closed, the council moved on to its regular agenda, later passing the budget with no comments from council members nor Mayor Tommy Davis.
While the final product was quietly passed, the budget was the result of workshops throughout the summer. The city began the process in May, facing a $5 million shortfall, but worked through it, shaving expenditures.
“It’s a very tight budget this year,” Davis said during one of the workshops. “We have scrubbed it very close. We still left in some big projects that need to be done, some equipment purchases, and some street projects that desperately need to be done. But there’s no fluff in it at all – it’s very, very tight.”
Many cuts were discussed at the council’s two budget workshops in order to make a balanced budget. A few increases did survive, however, including pay raises for the mayor, chief of police, and city council members, all taking effect with the next terms of office.
The approved budget will have approximately $209,000 in excess funds that will be placed in the city reserves, should the projected revenues prove true.
