The Crookston Ways & Means Committee held a special meeting Monday night to review the proposed budgets for 2020 for Public Works and Parks and Recreation. Those two departments are among the biggest in the city with Public Works having a proposed $2.2 million budget, while Parks and Recreation’s proposed budget is $1.9 million.
The proposed Public Works budget has an increase of $654,823 over the 2019 budget. A large portion of that, $650,000, is budgeted for the replacement of the 40-year-old filters in the water system said Public Works Director Pat Kelly. “That’s a big one there,” said Kelly. “We have two filters that filter out iron, magnesium, and things like that at the water plant. The material inside of the filters – charcoal and sand – has never been replaced and it gets calcified with the hardness of our water, reducing its effectiveness over time. During the replacement, they’ll be able to look internally at the tank structure for any pitting or structural deficiencies that need to be addressed. We were looking to do it 2-3 years from now, but with the biodiesel plant potentially coming and the water usage it would need we felt that now would be a more appropriate time. This way we can take one out of service at a time without any concerns of reduced volumes coming through our plant.”
Kelly is also looking to start two new replacement programs for the street signs ($7,000 a year) and for the old brick manholes ($25,000) a year he explains. “As you can see driving around the ultraviolet rays on the street signs have faded to the point you can’t see a lot of them,” said Kelly. “We started on a lot of main street signs a couple of years ago replacing the high-volume major streets with larger 9-inch signs. Now we need to go out in the residential areas and replace those street name signs. It’s a five-year program to do that, and we want to get those replace so people, especially those not familiar with the town, can find their way around. On the sanitary sewer end, we have budgeted $25,000 for an ongoing program to replace/reline our old brick manholes. Back in the early 1900s, they were built by brick. We have a number of those that bricks are falling out and they are failing. We want to come in and reline those with a polymer type re-liner that will restore the structural integrity of those manholes.”
Parks and Recreation have a proposed increase of $102,361. Of that, there is a $58,736 increase between the 2019 pool budget (6 months) and the 2020 budget that will cover the full year. The Parks and Recreation budget also includes a $65,000 increase to $141,000 in the budget for structures, equipment and other improvements at the city’s municipal parks explains Parks and Recreation Director Scott Riopelle. “We’re looking at putting a substantial size shelter at Wildwood Park,” said Riopelle. “It would be similar to the Lions Shelter out at Wildwood Park, so 50 feet by 30 feet. That’s a big picnic park, and we already have a bathhouse or restroom there so that will work well for us. Another expenditure would be another large 10.5-11 foot cut mower. We did purchase two small ones this year, but we need to get some of the bigger ones as well to keep that upgraded and fresh. There was another $36,000 for other improvements of which $30,000 would be for new playground equipment at Alexander Park which is the last of the parks to be upgraded. The other $6,000 is for some picnic tables and $5,000 for matching grants. That is a great program because people in the community come forward and it’s a dollar for dollar match, so we get two for one on whatever we put into a park.”
Another area that has seen a substantial increase over the past couple of years is the employer contribution from the city to health insurance. Four unions negotiate contracts with the city said City of Crookston Finance Director Angel Weasner. “Every union has a contract with us,” said Weasner. “We have four separate unions. There are increases in the amount that the city is obligated to pay for health insurance for each employee. That has increased throughout that contract.”
That yearly increase has raised the employer contribution substantially each year on the current contract for the union for Public Works and Parks and Recreation staff. Public Works has reduced staff over the past couple of years, resulting in a minimal overall impact on the final dollar amount the city contributes to health insurance. Parks and Recreation have had a staff increase that with the increased employer contribution has resulted in nearly a 50 percent increase in the health insurance budgeted for 2020 over the actual expense in 2017.
