The Elizabethtown City Council met for a work session Monday.
City Finance Director Jeff Hawkins presented a quarterly financial update to the council. Hawkins said the balance of the city’s general fund in December 2023 was $28.7 million, which is down $4.6 million from the year prior. The city’s sewer fund is up $1.4 million while the city’s natural gas fund is down $2.2 million. Hawkins said with recent projects such as the new Public Works building the drop in the general fund was not unexpected.
“We knew it was going to drop,” Hawkins said. “Obviously we’ve had salary increases and compensation. We’re hiring more people, doing what we can to better serve our citizens, but as we know, too, the Occupational Tax increase just kicked in January 1, so we’re anticipating to get half of the employer increase in this budget year.”
Hawkins said the city will review possible gas rate increases as the city has not adjusted that rate in about 12 years. Hawkins also noted that to this point in the fiscal year the city’s restaurant tax has collected about 44 percent of the $5.5 million that was projected.
City Stormwater Director Rita Davis gave an update on several projects. Davis said phase one of the Foxborough drainage project has been completed, and the city is waiting to collect data on spring rain events before proceeding to phase two. Phase one of the city’s Stormwater Master Plan is complete. Phase two of the master plan is ongoing, focusing on objectives such as reviewing ordinances, developing a design manual, better definitions, and establishing a rain gauge network. Davis said the department’s online portal for reporting stormwater issues has been well-used.
“We received 152 requests since this time last year, so this is heavily utilized,” Davis said. “We’ve resolved 132 requests since January of last year, and a lot of those are in conjunction with Public Works, with them doing the work on the ground.”
The Elizabethtown City Council will next meet February 20.
