MANSFIELD — Maybe it was the fact Mayor Jodie Perry sat in front of City Council Tuesday night to present her own 2024 spending plan.
Maybe it was the fact she was joined at the same table by Finance Director Kelly Blankenship, who went over her revenue projections.
Maybe it was because the two newly elected leaders communicated in advance to local lawmakers their priorities for at least the next 10 months.
Whatever the reason, City Council opted not to require any additional readings or protracted discussions, choosing instead to unanimously approve the finalized budget as presented.
Afterward, Perry admitted she was surprised at the rapid approval of the budget, which isn’t required to be approved until the end of March.
“I am surprised and excited that they had a chance to look through it and they felt like with the presentation that we made and the information that we had provided in advance, that they felt they were in a position to take a vote on it tonight,” said Perry, who took office in January.
“Approval tonight was not our ask, but it does allow us to move forward with projects and things. It certainly does speed up the process,” said the new mayor, who led the Richland Area Chamber & Economic Development before seeking elected office.
General fund budget remains relatively flat
Planned general fund expenditures will remain flat at around $35 million, though the budget shifts money around to better meet the new mayor’s priorities of growth, infrastructure and safety.
During the previous administration, the budget was presented solely by the finance director and her staff. The mayor remained in his seat in the second row.
That was not the case Tuesday during the finance committee meeting that preceded the full council meeting.
“I think that it was important for people to see the two of us together as two elected officials that each have a different role to play in the budget,” Perry said of the change.
“Mine primarily on the expenditures, (Blankenship’s) primarily on the revenue side. Symbolically, we work together on this. You can see that in seeing us together, but we literally also worked together on it quite a lot, spent a lot of hours together,” she said.
“The other reason was just to facilitate better discussion with council itself. You kind of heard my approach to it of really trying to share what was new (from the temporary plan approved in December).
“I mean, obviously when we get to next year and it’s the full budgets, you’ll see that still, but probably even more detail at that point,” Perry said.
Local lawmakers praise new administration
Council members didn’t pose many questions, choosing instead to compliment the new administration’s approach.
“It’s just a refreshing change to see the mayor sitting there addressing us and telling us what the changes are (and) not making us dig for it ourselves. Not that we shouldn’t be doing those things. Trust me, I did,” At-large Councilwoman Stephanie Zader said.
“It’s just a refreshing change to have someone sitting up there and telling us, and explaining why, because we are a team and I think it’s important that we work together.”
Sixth Ward Councilwoman Deborah Mount agreed.
“When I was going through it, I didn’t see anything that stood out as alarming or shocking. So I am glad to see all the work that’s been put into it,” she said.
“Thank you for that. And this is something that can always be amended. If something changes later in the year, we can always come back and amend it at that point. So in that regard, I don’t have concerns,” Mount said.
Third Ward Councilman Rev. El Akuchie also praised the work.
“It is a different administration and being proactive is so refreshing,” he said. “I appreciate what you are doing.”
At the end of the committee meeting, At-large Councilman David Falquette, the leader of the finance panel, said he planned to move the budget legislation to a vote.
“I really hate to break tradition of having 100 hours of meetings and extra weeks on this and everything,” he said with a laugh.
The mayor said the final budget is not significantly different than temporary spending plan put forth by former Mayor Tim Theaker in December.
She said budgeted capital remains for special fund areas, including water, sewer and streets.
What’s new, the mayor said, are new capital expenditures in line with her priorities for the city.
New mayor puts new capital for growth, infrastructure and safety
In addition to allocating general fund spending on the city’s parks for the first time in more than a decade, and new capital for the police and fire departments, Perry’s budget provides for the launch of a new comprehensive economic development for the city.
“A comprehensive plan is a long process. It’s not a strategic plan. It’s not something that we’re going to do in six weeks. It takes a lot of public involvement, but basically it’s charting the course for the city for at least the next 10 years, if not (more),” Perry said.
“We’re talking about land use. We’re talking about further development. That comprehensive plan is really, really key. And it is something that, you know, in my previous role at the Chamber, we were hearing from developers, ‘Hey, we want to see the city have this.’
“And quite frankly, we just don’t have it right now — not any time in recent memory. We’ve got lots of other plans, which are all of value and things that we want to do. But this is the thing that will tie them together,” Perry said.
“We’re really focused on using the carryover balance (from 2023) on one-time capital costs,” the mayor said.
She said the city entered 2024 with just over $900,000 that was left unallocated.
“We are in agreement that the budget is our guide for spending. It’s our guide for income. But things change mid year. And so, inevitably, we may come back to you with some additional allocation requests. But we wanted to keep that as close to a million as possible,” the mayor said.
‘Budget stabilization fund’ remains healthy, says finance director
Blankenship said the city will maintain a “budget stabilization fund” of more than $5.4 million.
“It is a very healthy balance right now and we feel like this is a good level to have going forward for this year. Obviously, as revenues come in, we will be analyzing that throughout the year and will make adjustments if we feel like the estimated revenue that we have currently is low,” she said.
“The last three years, the city has seen a $3 million increase year-over-year for income tax. But we don’t want to count on that going forward. We don’t know what’s really driving that number yet. I haven’t dug into it yet,” she said.
She said estimated general fund revenues in 2023 were raised during the year to $41 million, but finished at $38 million.
“So we want to make sure that we remain conservative for this year so that we don’t over allocate anything,” Blankenship said.
(Below is a PDF showing the city’s plans for unencumbered cash balances in 2024.)