By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter

                Williston City Council members broke an impasse Tuesday night and voted 4-0 to set their proposed tax rate for next year’s budget at 6.75 mills, an increase from the current 6.5 mills.

            The city council can lower the millage later as discussions continue, but it can’t raise the millage any higher. The city must adopt the 2021/22 budget by late September. The new fiscal year begins Oct. 1.

            Council members were divided early in the meeting about whether to set the maximum millage at 6.75 or 7 mills. Councilwoman Darfeness Hinds, who could have cast the tie-breaking vote, couldn’t make the meeting.

            Council President Debra Jones and Councilman Elihu Ross didn’t want to go higher than 6.75 mills, but Councilwoman Marguerite Robinson and Councilman Michael Cox favored 7 mills.

            Cox and Robinson eventually agreed to the lower millage.

            The difference in revenues between 6.75 and 7 mills was about $30,000, but the current deficit in the general operating fund is $200,000 due largely to staff requests for additional spending.

            Staff requests are always taken seriously, but when requests exceed revenues elected officials can be forced to trim expenses to make the budget balance. Or, council members can transfer more revenue out of its electric utility to balance the budget.

            The council has scheduled an Aug. 9 budget workshop to continue budget discussions.

            When the council first started talking about the 2022 budget, the document was balanced. Revenues matched expenditures. But that was before City Manager Jackie Gorman arranged for department heads to make their budget requests directly to the council at a marathon four-hour workshop.

            In the workshop, two supervisors requested across-the-board pay raises for the entire staff of their departments. Three additional employees would be hired by various departments.

            The city’s electric utility has asked for an additional line crew. Gorman said the crew is necessary to meet state safety requirements. The money would come from the well-funded electric utility.

            Gorman said all the staff requests are based on documented needs. The question is how to balance the budget. Ultimately, city council members are assigned the duty of balancing the budget in consultation with top staff managers including Gorman and Stephen Bloom, the city’s budget analyst. He will be present for Tuesday’s workshop.

            Touchy Situation

            Gorman said the city is working with Tractor Supply Co. on how to hook the store to a city water main without breaching a brittle water main and causing a major break in the pipe. She said there is no cutoff valve on the old water main. It was installed many years ago.

            The current plan is to install a new water main alongside the old one and make use of the new main without disrupting water flow, but how to get that done hasn’t been decided.

            Gorman said tapping directly into the older water main would almost certainly cause a major break in the pipe and potentially cause a shutdown of city water for an extended period. The city wants to avoid that scenario at all costs.

            She said another meeting with Tractor Supply is set for this week. The city is also consulting with its engineering company, Wright-Pierce, on how to resolve the problem.

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City of Williston Regular Meeting August 3, 2021; Posted August 3, 2021