Platte City makes COVID-related budget cuts

Platte City’s preliminary fiscal year budget that begins on Nov. 1 includes an across-the-board cut of 10 percent with declining revenues mainly due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

City administrator DJ Gehrt told the board of aldermen at a workshop meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 25, that his administration was able to balance the budget with the reductions.

“We’ve erred on the side of caution,” Gehrt told the board. “The bottom line is we’re balanced.

Gehrt’s preliminary budget did not include water and wastewater rates that the board ultimately acted upon with an increase.

The preliminary budget also includes a transfer of more than $120,000 from reserves to the general fund. Gehrt said that’s mainly to pay for property abatement and said that issue would be further discussed in closed session. The budget also includes an increase of about $45,000 to the city’s police budget for personnel expenses.

“This is the highest level of police department funding not just in dollars but in actual hours,” Gehrt said.

Gehrt said the city’s sales tax collections are actually running slightly higher than last year but where the city is receiving the money has changed. Businesses along the Prairie View corridor that depend on business from I-29 travel have had setbacks. Other businesses like the grocery store, hardware stores and food businesses did better.

“If you had a pizza oven and a car you did well,” Gehrt said.

The board will also consider a two percent cost-of-living increase for all city workers. Gehrt said the entire payroll budget is added together and the entire two percent is divided up evenly among workers. Gehrt said it amounts to about a $0.52 an hour raise or about $1,100 a year. The total cost to the budget would be about $39,000.

“The cost of living and the cost of breathing is the same for our highest paid employee as it is for our lowest paid employee,” Gehrt said.

Gehrt is also asking the board to implement the final phase of salary restructuring that would include a bump in pay for himself, the city public works director and another administration official. Gehrt said the city has been working for about five years on raising city worker’s pay to be more competitive with other cities. The city has accomplished the task with the exception of the administration’s leadership. Gehrt admitted it’s bad timing for the proposal.

“It couldn’t come at a worse time and it couldn’t look worse,” Gehrt told the board. “It certainly fits financially but I know it’s a difficult ask.”

Board member Vickie Atkins pushed back on the proposal. Atkins agreed that it’s the wrong time to be giving administration officials a raise.

“My way of thinking is it’s the wrong time for senior staff to be living and breathing at a higher percentage rate than anyone else,” Atkins said.

Board member Steve Hoeger told Atkins the raises are separate from the cost of living increases and is in line with the city’s plan.

“If you’re basing it on market then the market bares that out,” Hoeger said. “They’re getting paid below what they could go somewhere else and get paid.”

Mayor Tony Paolillo said Gehrt and the other administrators having been making below market value the longest.

“You obviously don’t want to start at the top of the pyramid,” Paolillo said. “They’ve been below market for the longest.”