Council considering $9.5 million budget
by Cerise Merritt Ripps
Editor
Dalhart City Councilmen are in the process of adopting an almost $9.5 million budget for the city for the upcoming fiscal year.
They heard a presentation on the proposed $9,476,800 budget from Interim City Manager Ken Nickel during their regular meeting Monday night, then conducted the first reading toward adopting the document.
A public hearing that only one resident attended was held Aug. 22. The second reading is scheduled for Sept. 9 and, barring anything unforeseen happening, the budget will take effect Oct. 1, 2024.
Nickel’s top three issues pertaining to the budget were:
• City employees will receive, on average, a 3.5% pay increase based on performance. “Some may get zero, some may get higher, depending on their performance,” Nickel stated.
• Employee health insurance only increased 3% in the upcoming fiscal year budget, whereas in the previous fiscal year there was nearly a 15% cost increase.
• The city’s property tax rate will not increase; it will remain the same rate as 2023-24 at .42475 per $100 valuation.
The city is planning on slightly increasing the amount of money spent on seal-coating streets next year, from $200,000 - $250,000 to $300,000.
Work will also be done at the intersection of Texas Avenue and 1st Street, Nickel said.
City officials budgeted $159,000 for repairs to the city swimming pool, which was last worked on in 2004, two decades ago.
Funds have also been earmarked for a new mower for the Parks Department, replacement equipment for the Dalhart Volunteer Fire Department and to replace a backhoe that was damaged in a wreck earlier in the year.
The city is trimming staff a bit, going from the equivalent of 70 full-time employees to 69. Officials have decided to not refill the vacant Community Development Manager position or the Human Resources position, but have added some part-time staffers.
In other business, the council approved rezoning 601 Margaret Street for a manufactured home.
It also approved closing Denrock Avenue from 3rd to 5th Streets on Sept. 7 from 10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. for the Dalhart Area Chamber of Commerce’s Farm to Table event.
The final business of the meeting was the topic of stray cats, back on the agenda after being tabled during Council’s July 22 meeting. Council members generally agreed that this was a case where any solution might be greater than the original problem.
Mayor James Stroud pointed out that often, when a stray cat population is minimized or eliminated, problems arise with rodents and other nuisance animals.
There is also the issue of people who feed stray cats and, although they refuse to take care of them otherwise, become upset if they are trapped or relocated.
Officials are asking residents to please not feed cats in alleys or on sidewalks. If residents feel that it is necessary to feed stray cats, they are asked to please do so on their own property.
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