There was nobody in attendance Nov. 13 at Columbia’s public budget hearing for the third year in a row.
Mayor Justin McKenzie expressed his disappointment the public declined the opportunity to see how its taxes are being spent and have a voice.
“Most years there’s not anybody that appears for the hearings. Of course last year we didn’t have anybody (show) either, but we were hopeful that people would come by to ask about the budget and find out where their tax dollars are going,” he said. “We were really looking forward to being able to share with them we were able to bring our overall budget down and shave money out of several different funds throughout the city while prioritizing and putting it in places that matter.”
The current budget is more than $300,000 lower than it was in September last year (5,940,305 this year compared to $6,288,967 last year), which could allow Columbia to make improvements to city infrastructure.
“One of our big deals is the roads and such and being able to carry over some money from this year over into next year in our account, which could help support us in our endeavor to repave several roads and repair some culverts and infrastructure,” McKenzie said. “We’ve been able to save money, shift it around and prioritize it.”
McKenzie added the city was able to trim the budgets for both police and fire while giving certified firefighters pay increases to bring them up to a competitive wage of $9.50 per hour, with the approval of the budget Friday afternoon. At the same time, city officials are not among those receiving pay raises.
“We’re not going to be giving the engineers and the captains a pay raise. Throughout the city we’re not doing pay raises for anybody in an administrative position simply because we don’t have the money,” he said.
