Livingston Budget Provides Raises, Money For Paving

The city of Livingston approved a new fiscal year budget on final reading Tuesday.

Mayor Curtis Hayes said the spending provides city employees with a raise.

“We were losing employees to other communities due to the pay,” Hayes said. “We think we have a mechanism in place with the pay scale that can set a road map in the future for city employees for the town of Livingston.”

Livingston adopted the pay scale after consulting with MTAS. The salary mechanism officially takes effect July 1st.

Hayes said the new budget also includes a bond allocation for paving roads.

“We borrowed half a million dollars to do some paving over in some subdivisions that desperately needed it,” Hayes said. “It was beyond repair and we had filled the potholes as much as we possibly could.”

Hayes said he’s also interested in seeing how some new revenue streams affect the city coffers.

“We have Winningham Hardware, the Steel Coup restaurant has one year under their belt, and the new Volunteer Wine and Spirits liquor Store should be a revenue stream for the city,” Hayes said. “We’ll see how things go and if not, we’llhave to look for other ways to have revenue in our budget.”

The new budget does not include a property tax increase.