Athens City Council members returned to work Monday night after a two-week hiatus and picked up right where they left off.
Council met in committees for about 20 minutes before moving to a regular session, and during committee, council members reviewed the city’s accounts to make sure funds were appropriated correctly for future ordinances.
Future ordinances included: a staffing ordinance that increases the pay for 170 city employees who are non-union, an ordinance that would increase the city’s rate for medical insurance per person per year from $12,300 to $15,000 and a payment ordinance for a fire truck and improvements to the wastewater treatment facility.
Last week, the state legislature introduced a bill that would unify the way municipalities collect funds, which City Auditor Kathy Hecht said would not come out this year. Still, she said she had concerns about some of the language in the legislation.
“A lot of things in there would be a loss of revenue for municipalities,” Hecht said.
Council members continued to discuss the annexation of a property on East State Street and passed a resolution to provide city services to the area being annexed.
Hecht also said that — following a review of the 2012 city budget — the city should have about $3 million in extra cash. An estimated $1 million comes from city revenue being higher than expected. The city also owes about $1 million less than officials had projected, and the remaining million in savings comes from various other sources.
Council members also discussed an ordinance that would improve city roads and sidewalks, a process that is usually done separately, said Councilwoman Chris Knisely, D-At Large. She added that because there is construction on roads, the city might as well do sidewalks repairs at the same time.
Councilman Elahu Gosney, D-At large, presented an ordinance authorizing the street paving and repairs and calling for increasing both the street fund and street rehabilitation fund by $8,000.
“There was an increase in the cost of repairing the curb and gutter, and we want to pave a section of the bike path near the wastewater treatment plant,” Gosney said.
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