News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
City of Cookeville preparing to start official budget discussions as the fiscal year nears its close.
City Manager James Mills said the budgets are worked all year round as the finance department makes plans for the next fiscal year. He said it is the end of March where these discussions get into the “nitty-gritty.”
“We’ve already asked our department heads to look at what capital projects they anticipate requesting for the next year,” Mills said. “Of course, we’re in the middle of a salary study which will have an impact on our budget once we get that done which should be sometime in April.”
Mills said they are looking at some pretty major capital projects for the next year including the potential for a new fire station and infrastructure needs. He said there will also before a focus on specifically first responder salaries in order to make the city more competitive.
“And we’ve had a lot of skilled positions we’ve had a lot of difficulty with filling so we may have to make some significant salary adjustments which is expensive,” Mills said. “But all that will go into what we’re looking at with our budget.”
Mills said the process will not look different than previous years despite having several new council members. Mills said he and Finance Director Brenda Imel will meet with department heads about their budgets and then have at least two work sessions with the full council.
“Many of the new council actually attended budget some of our work sessions last year,” Mills said. “And we try to keep them up to date throughout the year on where we are, what our precedents will be, what our issues are, and what costs and expenses we expect to have for the next year.”
