Council hearing presents city‚s proposed budget to public

During a public hearing at the Carbondale City Council meeting Tuesday night, City Manager Jeff Doherty presented the city's proposed budget for fiscal year 2006 and received feedback from a few citizens about their concerns with the document.

The proposed budget was first made available to the public on March 19, and the hearing was the first opportunity citizens had to voice opinion on it. Angie Kaye, one of six candidates in the upcoming city council election April 5, asked Doherty why the budget will call for such a raise in the cost of water for citizens.

"I want to question why our water is going to be increased by 15.2 percent," Kaye said. "I'm just wondering what the rationale is." Doherty said the rate increase is needed to replace water lines in different parts of the city and increasing need for maintenance in old water lines, for which Doherty said the city will not use taxes or funds from other sources to support the projects. "We still have many water lines that are two inch lines," Doherty said. "In order to upgrade our system and infrastructure, we need money to invest in that."

Sally Wright, spokesperson for the Carbondale Aquatic Complex Committee, also stood up to ask the council if they would consider adding up to $15,000 to the budget to do an updated feasibility study about the possibility of bringing a community pool to the city. The last feasibility study was done in 1998 by a source outside the city government. Doherty said he had no objection to updating the study, but he said he thought it could be done within the city without spending $15,000 and hiring out another source to do it.

"If the council desires an updated feasibility study, we can basically do that in house." Doherty said. "Fifteen thousand dollars, I don't think is necessary. I think we can accomplish that in another way." None of the members of the council brought up any serious issues with the budget. Most of the council members praised the effort of the city manager and the rest of the city departments in preparing the budget. Mayor Brad Cole said the city has been under budget in the past couple of years, and he expects the same to happen again. He said the only areas in which the city will have trouble planning ahead for are fluctuating costs such as the price of gas and health care.

"We have a lot of costs that we are able to control," Cole said. "It's the ones we can't control that are putting us in a bind." The approval of the budget will be voted on during the next meeting. During the meeting's regular agenda, the council voted to combine the city's Planning Commission with the Zoning Board of Appeals. Cole proposed the merger of the two bodies because of their similar roles.

"This is to consolidate and streamline the processes," Cole said. The council also discussed an amendment to the Carbondale Revised Code that would require landlords to put a section in their leases entitled "Charges in Addition to Rent and Zoning Restrictions." The Human Relations Commission recommended the council take this action after having problems in the city with tenants signing leases and not realizing for what charges they would be responsible. The amendment aimed at making leases clearer for tenants. No vote was taken on the issue as the council decided to wait until the next meeting in order to discuss the matter further. Councilman Chris Wissmann said he thought the amendment sounded like a step in the right direction.

"I think this is a good step towards tenant and landlord reforms," Wissmann said. After experiencing problems with an unclear lease himself, Wissmann said he feels there is a need for leases to be clearer so tenants don't end up in situations where they have to pay more money than is necessary. "These items are a no-brainer." Wissmann said. "They are non controversial and we need to move on with them."