City Council meets on budget and speed humps
June 10, 2016
By John Temple Ligon
BUDGET
The big event of the night, Tuesday, was the presentation of the city’s annual budget. There’s time for further discussion and adjustments in that the fiscal year begins on the first of July.
Among the revenue funds, Water/Sewer is actually the biggest of the budget. The city’s General Fund comes to $138,800,368, and the Water/Sewer comes to $148,467,000.
Next in line in descending order of total dollars is the Hospitality Fund, $10,839,000 – tax on prepared foods – followed by the Parking Fund, $8,221,505.
A little less than Parking is Storm Water at $7,235,000. Last in line is the Accommodations Fund, or “Accomodations,” as the city prints it, dropping the second “m.” The Accommodations Fund comes from the hotels and motels.
For the coming year beginning on July 1, the General Fund expenditures are listed in descending dollar amounts:
Public Safety $63,644,467
Public Works $18,416,743
General Government $18,075,180
Parks and Recreation $12,008,575
Non-dept & Transfers Out $6,479,140
Debt Service $7,617,306
Capital Replacement $8,000,000
Dev’t Srvc & Planning $3,381,638
Community & Econ Dev’t $1,177,319
Total $138,800,368
Considering that same $138,800,368, the city’s General Fund Expense Types are categorized and listed:
Personnel Services & GASB 45 $90,696,059
Operating Expenses $7,746,142
Service Expenses $17,142,453
Capital Outlays $9,119,268
Non-dept & Transfers Out $14,096,446
On page 11 in the city’s “Budget in Brief” booklet:
“Property taxes are budgeted at $3,241,097…”
And on the same page in the bar chart graphic, the General Property Tax is illustrated as about $52 million proposed for Fiscal Year 16/17. An almost $50 mil. misprint, the accounting as reported will have to be further checked out. Watch for it as it is assuredly expected to come under question in the next council meeting.
SPEED HUMPS
City Council discussed another citizen request for another neighborhood speed hump. Beginning maybe 20 years ago, Mayor Coble began the madness of putting speed humps just about anywhere. While they were at it, city council was known for rarely objecting to a request for a stop sign. Bottom line: Columbia is the Speed Hump Capital of the World and in the running for the Most Stop Signs Per Capita.
Your intrepid reporter asked to offer citizen input at the close of the city council meeting.
I suggested Jerusalem was at least 4,000 years old, Rome was almost 3,000 years old, Paris and London were about 2,000 years old, and New York and Boston were almost 400 years old. And nowhere inside these cities, all developed well before Columbia, have I seen a speed hump.
Then I brought in real relevance, cites comparable to Columbia: Madison, Wisconsin; Austin, Texas; Greenville, Spartanburg, and Charleston, South Carolina; and nowhere had I seen a speed hump.
Mayor Benjamin said he saw one in Jerusalem, but he wouldn’t say where, exactly.
