The city of Nicholasville’s fiscal-year 2013 budget shrank by more than $1 million from FY 2012 because of the completion of the downtown sidewalk project, finance officer Laurie Young said Tuesday. The Nicholasville City Commission approved the first reading of the $14.07 million budget Monday evening.
“There was a huge decrease in our grant revenues; it was a little over $1 million that we’d received in fiscal-year 12 that we don’t expect to receive this year because that project is finished,” she said.
In order to save money, capital expenditures were reduced from $536,140 in FY 2012 to $29,200 in FY 2013.
“Some of the capital expenditures in fiscal-year 12, about $250,000, is also related to the downtown project,” Young said.
Salary and wages decreased by $380,300 from FY 2012 to FY 2013. Young said the reason was not a cut in jobs but the settlement with firefighters regarding overtime back wages owed.
In December 2011, the city settled with its firefighters and agreed to pay about $390,000 to that department’s employees.
The city also had to increase its state-mandated retirement match to the tune of $1,979,100, and health insurance costs topped out at $299,500.
Mayor Russ Meyer said the retirement match has hampered his city and other cities involved in the state’s retirement system for years.
“Our revenue streams have been steady, based on our tax base, but what has hurt local governments the most is the increase in the state-retirement-system match,” Meyer said. “Over the last four or five years, it’s been a detrimental increase for all local governments that are in the system.”
Young said the state’s retirement system sucks 37.6 cents for every dollar of hazardous-duty (fire and police) pay, and 19.55 cents for every dollar for employees listed under the nonhazardous category.
The city kicked in $139,000 to organizations seeking funding. The beneficiaries include:
• Jessamine County Economic Development - $57,500
• Disabled American Veterans Chapter 168 - $1,800
• Jessamine Adult Day Program - $4,000
• Jessamine County Safe House - $3,450
• Jessamine County Senior Citizens Center - $30,000
• Nicholasville Now - $30,000
• Nursing Home Ombudsman - $5,000
• Jessamine County Fiscal Court Transportation Development - $7,225
The city also included $14,000 for the school-resource-officer program.
The FY 2013 budget also includes a 2-percent cost-of-living raise to its employees across the board.
“I was very adamant about making sure that was in the budget, and I know every commissioner up there was very adamant about getting it in,” Meyer said. “We’ve done this without cutting services to the people.”
In FY 2012, the city did not give its employees raises.
