The city council approved the second reading of the 2018 budget ordinance at their meeting on September 18.
The budget will include the funds for a new police officer, which the city will hire knowing a current officer will become the full-time school resource officer around January 1.
Adding one new officer increases the budget $57,000, a position previously paid from certified wages, but the police chief believes he will have to hire a non-certified officer.
With the funds from the school for an SRO, which is $45,000, the overall increase to the police department’s budget is $13,000 since the first reading of the ordinance.
Another addition to the 2018 budget is a 3 percent cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) to wages, 12 percent increase for medical insurance and 5 percent increase for dental and vision insurance.
The 2017 payroll budget was $1,425,293. For 2018, the payroll budget will be $1,551,678, an 8.87 percent increase, including a $35,257 COLA increase.
Council members Karen Tufty, Bob Pesall, Ron Smith and Brad Bjerke approved the budget ordinance, while Bart Sample and Dan Sutton voted no.
For more details about the city’s 2018 budget, see page 9 in this week’s Enterprise.
The Flandreau city council also:
awarded bids for surplus items to Drew Headrick ($301) and Mike Smith ($250), Ford Crown Vics, former police vehicles, and to Charlie Hansen ($568), the 1968 Sutphen fire ladder truck.
approved a fourth pay request from H&W Contracting for their work on the water and wastewater line replacement project totaling $334,026.53.
approved a CDBG funding request to help cover the costs of the water portion of the First Avenue project, $197,256.74 in CDBG funding.
approved to write off miscellaneous billing charges totaling $670 for camping fees incurred by one person last year.
