Stewart approves preliminary budget with $11,813 shortfall

The Stewart City Council nearly balanced its preliminary budget for 2020 at a meeting Monday, Aug. 12. The council cut more than $50,000 from the city’s budget in one night, taking mostly from the city’s maintenance department. Mayor Jason Peirce said the city’s total expenditure is budgeted for $812,685, leaving a shortfall of $11,813.
Stewart city councilors will look for more savings in the upcoming weeks in an effort to levy as few dollars as possible. However, councilmen Curt Glaeser and Kevin Klucas noted, if the city doesn’t levy for any additional dollars, the city could potentially lose local government aid money from the state.
Stewart has dealt with such hardships in the past, Klucas said, putting the city in a difficult situation.
If the city isn’t able to cut anything else from its budget, which councilors notioned is unlikely, the nearly $12,000 shortfall in the city’s preliminary budget for 2020 would increase the tax levy by approximately 3 percent.
The council first looked at the fire department, from which it plans to cut $8,000. It cut department wages by $1,000 — to $5,000 — because the department spent under $5,000 in wages last year. It took $2,000 from repair and maintenance for buildings because the city had recently approved a renovation for the department.
Councilors also looked to equipment purchases, cutting $5,000 from the $10,000 it planned to spend previously. The department only utilized $1,604 for equipment purchases last year.

(For the complete story, see the Aug. 14 print edition of The McLeod County Chronicle.)