City of Medford eyes status quo budget for 2024

There do not appear to be any major changes coming to the City of Medford budget in 2024.

The city council held a budget review session on Monday.

The department supervisors were present at the meeting to go over their proposed budgets for 2024.

The allowable tax levy is going up from $1,841,437 in 2022 to an estimated $1,915,277 in 2023. The 2023 estimated levy limit is subject to change based on the tax levy limit worksheet that will be published by the Department of Revenue in September. The proposed breakdown is the general fund would budget for $1,124,277 (59%), the construction fund is budgeted for $741,000 (38%) and the debt service fund is budgeted for $50,000 (3%).

City Coordinator Joe Harris started the review session discussing the budget for next year. One of the changes residents will see in their taxes is that the Personal Property Tax is going away. Instead, the state will be reimbursing that amount to the city. The amount of aid that is expected for the City of Medford is $35,000.

Council Member Laura Holmes asked, “Will the state raise that every year?” Harris responded that, “no they will not.”

One of the bigger topics of discussion was in regards to the city pool. Before the pool opened this year, the climbing wall was taken down. Council member Mike Bub asked about whether they are looking at different alternatives with the climbing wall taken down. Harris discussed some of the options that they were looking at. He mentioned that they have money left over and that they would not need to budget for whatever changes they decide.

Police Chief Chad Liske was present at the meeting. When discussing the police budget, Bub asked Liske how much of salary is overtime pay. Bub was curious if it made sense to hire another officer instead of paying overtime. Liske discussed some of the issues that are involved with that and that, at times, overtime pay for officers is still necessary. Liske will be providing the council with a breakdown of overtime pay as budget review discussions continue.

Wages for many city employees are seeing slight increases. There are not any substantial changes to wages or benefits.

An increase that was seen this year was in the public works construction equipment. That budget amount went from $110,000 in 2023 to $180,000 in the proposed budget. Harris addressed this saying, “the price of equipment is going crazy.”

The purpose of this review was to go through the proposed budget for next year. No action was taken by the board at this time. Mayor Mike Wellner addressed the council at the end of the meeting, stating, “He wanted to thank the department heads for a job well done,” and continued, “We are in good shape thanks to your hard work.” The board meets again on Monday, September 11 at 6 p.m.