By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter

            Williston has tentatively agreed to give a couple of big pay raises to two essential employees who believe they are underpaid considering their obvious talent levels and how much they help the city.

            In its first budget workshop of the year, the council agreed informally to consider giving Information Technology Director Aaron Mills a $7 per hour raise after he receive no raise whatsoever for the first 2 ½ years with the city.

            HR Director Crystal Patterson is being given serious consideration for a raise in her annual pay from about $46,000 to $54,000 which sounds like a lot of money for someone who has worked for the city just six months.

            But not really.

            City Manager Terry Bovaird said the Marion County Sheriff’s Office is advertising for a human resources risk and benefits manager who would earn a starting salary of $81,000. Patterson would probably qualify for the job.

            Many small cities in Levy County find themselves competing against larger counties and cities for employees. The larger counties and cities can pay more money. Williston is certainly no exception.

            The city council is also sensitive to the fact that newcomers in city government probably shouldn’t make more money than long-time employees in management. That’s a complicated situation when you factor in what the labor market is paying people like Patterson and Mills who have skills that are in demand.

            The Williston City Council has made no final decisions on its 2024 budget. City Finance Director Stephen Bloom will crunch the numbers and advise the council if the budget can be balanced with the proposed raises and other factors included.

            Williston city government appears to be in good hands at all levels of the city administration. Bovaird is well-organized and says he wants to be open and transparent. He took a call from Spotlight after-hours Friday.

            “I set the tone and the culture,” Bovaird said. “We’re going to be servant leaders. It’s not my money. It’s the citizen’s money. We try to be transparent. We’re an open book.”

            Bloom advised council members the utility rate hikes they approved are absolutely needed to keep the utilities earning enough money to pay the bills and keep pace with the high growth rate in the city.

            Bovaird said the city for the past two years has been taking in more revenue than it spends, a trend that makes the council happy.

            However, the city council, in keeping with tradition, is transferring money from its utilities fund to the general operating budget. The city is proposing to transfer $1.5 million in utilities revenue to general city operations.  The city owns its municipal electric power utility and its natural gas utility, as well as water and sewer utilities. The city council says the transfers of utility revenue to general operations keep property taxes down.

            The city is proposing to leave the property tax rate at 6.75 mills. The property tax on a home valued at $100,000 would be $337.50.

            Williston has one remarkable department that’s not exactly a secret and yet few people know much about the Williston Municipal Airport. It’s headed toward regional status as a transportation hub.

            The airport budget for 2024 shows about $6.2 million in construction projects at the airport, all funded by grants from the Florida Department of Transportation and Federal Aviation Administration.

            One of the projects is a new $2.25 million airport terminal. Furniture for the terminal is $60,000. The terminal will have a second-story overlook (mezzanine) for visitors to view airport takeoffs and landings if there’s enough grant money to make it happen.

            A different grant worth $441,500 is for design of a t-hangar for parking aircraft. An additional $1.9 million is for prior-year projects that will carry over into 2024.

            A grant for Taxiway-G alignment worth $1.4 million is also in the budget.

            The airport functions without city funding. Airport Supervisor Benton Stegall works closely with Bovaird on airport operations and funding. Technically, the airport is a stand-alone department that operates on grant funding, sales of jet fuel, and sales of timber growing on airport land, but it is factored into the city budget.

            The airport also is home to a sizeable industrial park.

            As it stands now, the city appears to be in good financial condition, but council members are waiting for Bloom to give them an update on whether the budget is balanced for 2024.

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City of Williston Budget Meeting July 25, 2023; Posted August 4, 2023