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 Area residents used snowblowers, snow plows and snow shovels to dig out from a winter storm that hit late Friday and Saturday. Another storm is to hit tonight. Staff photo/William Laney MIKE BURKHOLDER
and WILLIAM LANEY
Staff Writers
A winter snow storm, which dumped as much as 3 feet in the Washington, D.C. area, hit the area with as much as 9 inches of snow in Wapakoneta and some areas of Auglaize County.
The snowfall came with high winds which created drifts as tall as 4 feet causing hazards for the city and county roadways.
Wapakoneta weather observer Dan Dietz calculated 8.5 inches of snow fell in Wapakoneta Friday and Saturday. The National Weather Service is predicting as much as 10 more inches starting with a light snow at midnight with most of the snow falling throughout the day Tuesday before tapering off early Wednesday morning.
Wapakoneta Public Works Superintendent Meril Simpson said city crews hit the roads at 4 a.m. Saturday, but the high winds hampered their effforts.
Crews worked until 4:15 p.m.. Saturday and returned Sunday and worked from 7 a.m. to 1p.m. before heading back out early this morning.
“We are attempting to clear the roadways the best we can and we are dumping more salt and grit this time,” Simpson said this morning. “The temperature is still too cold for the salt to work, but if we get enough sun it may warm it up enough to help.”
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Monday, 16 November 2009 |
By WILLIAM LANEY
Managing Editor
With the national economy still struggling and local income tax revenue falling, the purse strings for the city of Wapa-koneta are likely to be pulled tighter, a city councilor says.
Income tax revenue for the city of Wapakoneta for the first nine months this year at $1.62 million is $114,716 lower than the first nine months of 2008 when $1.73 was collected. It is the lowest total for the first three quarters since 2005 when $1.6 million was collected.
“I am concerned where the income tax revenue numbers are overall, just as I am about the national economy,” Wapakoneta City Councilor-at-large Wilbur Wells said. “As far as this year, revenues will end about where we expected, but I am hoping expenses fall below what was budgeted for each of the departments because of better prices on materials and goods and services we purchased.”
For example, the engineer’s estimate for the East Benton Street reconstruction project was $1 million, but RJ Jones Excavating, of Harrod, won the contract with a bid of $543,933.
Wells, who serves as council’s Finance Committee chair, said he is keeping a close eye on income tax revenue this final quarter since October revenues dipped by $61,338 from $232,276 to $170,938 — the lowest total for October in the past five years.
November and December income tax revenues tend to be some of the lowest totals collected by the city because of the holiday breaks and the holidays often result in plant shutdowns.
City income tax revenues in 2009 should surpass totals for every year prior to 2000, the first year the city topped the $2 million mark. It dipped below $2 million for the next four years before it surpassed the mark in 2005 at $2.06 million.
City administrators estimated income tax revenue for 2009 at approximately $2 million.
If income tax revenue for November and December stays the same as last year, income tax revenue for the year would total approximately $2.09 million. If income tax revenues for November and December match their lowest marks since 2005, income tax revenue for the year would total approximately $2.02 million.
“Looking at these numbers, we are really, really going to have to tighten the purse strings this year, and we are going to have to take a real long and close look at what we do with the budget next year,” said Wells, who intends to begin budget meetings to review each city department within the next month. “The revenue is going to be what it is and there is nothing we can do about that — but what I can do is make sure we have money in the right buckets so the city operates the way it should next year.”
Wells intends to look at possible dates for Finance Committee meetings regarding the budget during tonight’s Wapakoneta City Council meeting.
Wells said he has faith in fellow committee members, 1st Ward Councilor Jim Neumeier and 3rd Ward Councilor Bonnie Wurst, and confidence in city administrators and department superintendents who “know the task in front of them and are willing and able to meet that challenge.”
The Finance Committee chair said he does not know which fund they will review first, but they typically wait to do the city General Fund later in the process since it impacts fire, police and emergency medical service departments as well as street improvements.
“Street improvements is something we had to back off from the past few years and tried to do our best with the money we had or could acquire through grants,” Wells said, noting Issue 1 money was used to help reconstruct Harrison Street from the bridge to Defiance Street. “I am hoping there is a trend that revenues are not going to fall anymore than they have, if that holds true then we should have a tight budget but a workable budget next year.”
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 17 November 2009 )
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