Thursday's Internet Edition, August 28, 2008.

Spencer City Council met in special session for about 90 minutes last Wednesday at the municipal building and approved a nearly million-dollar general fund budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1.

The $953,292 budget is up $55,933 from the current budget, an increase of 6.23 percent. Another $8,000 is estimated in the coal severance account.

“It’s amazing to me how much we can get done with the money we have to use,” Mayor Terry Williams said.

All non-elected city employees will receive a 3 percent raise in their annual salaries. The city will also pick up 80 percent of a 10 percent increase in health insurance premiums at a total cost of approximately $8,000.

The budget includes an expected carryover from the current budget of $125,000. Surplus funds of $116,000 were added to the current budget in July of last year.

Revenue from property taxes is expected to go up only slightly to $190,912 in the new budget, with business and occupation tax collections increasing $25,000 to $550,000.

Money generated from table games and distributed by the state is estimated at $3,000 in the new budget. The table games line item does not exist in the current budget.

The city plans to save another $7,500 by eliminating its previous contribution to the county 911 center. Williams said the center had not requested the contribution, which the city had done on a voluntary basis.

Funds for the police and street departments were given increases totaling $15,000 that Williams said were largely due to rising gasoline costs.

Another $4,000 was budgeted to pay for the municipal election scheduled for June 2009.

Williams said the expected carryover would be used in part to pay for the acquisition and demolition of as many as five properties, including two on Spring Street and others on Center Street and Locust Avenue. Recent changes to city code will make the process easier to accomplish, the mayor said.

“There’s not a lot of frills in this budget,” Williams told council. “We’ll take another look at it after July 1 and see where we are.”