Knox employees may be getting a three-percent pay raise in 2018. During the city council’s budget work session Tuesday, Mayor Dennis Estok said the city has saved money by switching health insurance providers, but that’s led to higher out-of-pocket costs for employees. “With going to a different provider, the prescriptions and that just isn’t the same, and we’re getting killed on that,” he said. “That’s the only reason I went with three-percent across-the-board. I can tell you right now, do not expect it next year to be that.”
Estok said that Knox employees deserve pay increases, but there are limits on what the city can afford. “We cut services out, and we have,” he said. “I don’t even have an animal control officer anymore. I get calls all the time over cats. We have nothing. We’ve cut services, but we’ve continued to give big raises. That comes out of your General Fund.” However, the mayor stressed that there’s still time to discuss the proposal before a 2018 salary ordinance is adopted.
Clerk-Treasurer Jeff Houston said the 2018 budget is estimated at $2.9 million. The maximum that the city will be allowed to raise in tax revenues is projected to be under $1.6 million. That figure doesn’t include the city’s Cumulative Capital Development and debt funds.
Houston said that reestablishing the city’s CCD fund earlier this year will bring in over $50,000 that the city didn’t get last year. On top of that, he said the city’s miscellaneous revenue has also gone up. “As an example, fines for truck route violations have brought in quite a bit of money,” he said. “Not that that was the idea of the ordinance, but it has generated extra money.”
Mayor Estok added that the city’s budget has also benefited from the generosity of local residents and businesses, specifically when it comes to improvements at Wythogan Park. “On the performance stage, the estimated cost from the engineer was like $154,000,” Estok explained. “I think we’re into it for a little over $80,000. We got that grant for $11,000 for an anonymous donor. And then the splash pad, I think that was $135,000, and we’re about a little over $80,000 on that, too. So we saved a lot of money.”
He pointed out that Kajer Construction has once again offered to donate labor to the city, this time for a concession stand in Wythogan Park.
