Budget cuts still needed for 2023-24
V. Hugh Lewis II/Jefferson Jimplecute
Jefferson City Council’s marathon meeting last Monday continued after a short recess following a contentious water discussion (see story above), to address a request by 1852 on Austin owner David Echols to allow a metal storage building to stay behind the building on Dallas street.
The City had contended tha the building did not meet the setback requirements and was encroaching into the Dallas Street right of way.
Echols installed the building prior to obtaining a building permit which raised the issue originally several weeks ago and was tabled by Council.
Echols said he had had the ordinance and building permit reviwed by a real estate attorney and was informed they did not apply to the building.
As such, he was asking for a waiver or variance to the placement of the structure. He cited that the Council had issued a waiver, partly based on other waivers recently granted by Council.
He also said he would be repositioning the building so that it would not encroach onto the street right-of-way.
Jefferson Mayor Rob Baker said that in discussion with City Attorney Mike Martin and that the carport/parking structure adjacent to 1852 was built with a variance and that it should not be used as a comparison.
Baker also said he’d received 13-14 calls about the “metal building” one sees when coming into town, and based on the calls, he was against the variance.
Echols said that the structure does not require any city utilities or electricity. He said he was also willing to paint the structure to better match his building so it would not be as noticable.
Alderman Charles “Bubba” Haggard said that about a month ago Echols told Haggard that if there was a problem with the building, he’d move it. Haggard then asked what changed.
Echols infomed Haggard that “What changed sir was that I read the ordinance that governed those types of buildings and after consulting with a real estate attorney who’s a good friend of mine in Houston and reviewing that oridnance he said it did not apply to me.”
Echols then said that his understanding was that the metal building was an “eyesore.” He then proceeded to point out examples of other things surrounding him that were “more of an eyesore than my brand new metal building.”
Alderman Hollis Shadden pointed out that there is no ordiance prohibiting metal buildings. Baker clarified that the issue is the setback, not a metal building itself. Shadden then pointed out how there are anumber of recently built structures which go right out to the edge of the property, disregarding the setback requirements.
Ultimately Council approved the variance for the structure 3-1-0 with Haggard opposing the variance.
Council then moved into discussions on the 2023-24 Budget.
Baker asked Council to indicate which tax rate they wished to continue looking at for budgeting purposes as they are coming up on the final deadline.
Baker said they needed to indicate wether to use the No New Revenue rate of $0.39 or the $0.41 rate.
Haggard was quick to indicate he would prefer the $0.39 rate. The rest of Council present said the $0.41 rate.
Baker explained that even with the $0.41 rate, Council would still need to find approximately $330,000 in cuts to the budget to avoid proposing a deficit budget. He also said that if they went with the NNR rate, they would need to cut over $400,000 from the proposed budget.
Haggard said the $0.41 rate only generated $72,000 in new revenue, so the difference wasn’t significant. Baker said that many of the infrastructure projects would have to be stopped for next year if Council went with the NNR rate.
During discussions, the Marion County Chamber of Commerce Board President Mike Chandler requested $5,000 from Council for “life support” for the MCCC and to help them work through options to continue to operate past January 2024.
Chandler said the Chamber is thankful for the building the City provides but they needed a little more help. Chandler also broached the subject of possibly forming a tighter bond with the City Tourism department.
Baker suggested taking the funds from one of the contingency funds. Council indicated their agreement to support the Chamber for one more year.
This Tuesday the City will meet to finalize the 2023-24 budget proposal.
“We’ll be there Tuesday night until we get this done,” said Baker.