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About Keizertimes. (Salem, Or.) 1979-current | View Entire Issue (May 15, 2015)
PAGE A6, KEIZERTIMES, MAY 15, 2015 BUDGET, continued from Page A1 looks like you’re asking for $16,500,” Gillis said, getting an affi rmative response from Diek- er. “But on the request form, it’s a great deal more than that. What am I missing?” Dieker said the addendum was “the more serious piece,” thus the request for $28,000. Tim Wood, assistant control- ler for Keizer, helped decipher the request on May 8. “The original budget request received in March (from the chamber) was for $16,500,” he said. “The city included $2,500 in the FY2015-16 budget, the same amount that was in the adopted budget for FY 14-15. The addendum was a further refi nement of their original budget request, replacing what was previously asked for.” Wood added the budget meeting was the fi rst time the addendum had been shown to anyone at the city. “I believe it was new infor- mation for everyone,” he said. Councilor Dennis Koho noted during the meeting he was trying to understand things. “I get confused most every year by chamber requests,” he said. “We often get things last minute. This may be a good idea. I just wonder if we have it backward. The chamber comes to us with a good thing to spend tax money on, rather than the city saying we have some needs. I want to see us turn it back around somehow, where the city identifi es what we can use the help of the chamber for.” Dieker explained how an increase in TOT dollars would benefi t tourism strategies, but was interrupted by Gillis. “Is that a question for this meeting? If I understand, the TOT increase is more reaching than this committee,” said Gillis, seeing nods of yes. Later in the meeting, Char- lotte Clark expressed surprise at the request. “I’ve never heard of a town where the chamber got funded by the city,” she said. “I thought a chamber was always funded by the local business community. To see them request a lot, I was quite shocked.” No motion was made on the chamber’s request. At the fi nal budget meeting on Tuesday, the amount given to the chamber was lowered to $1,500. The future of the Event Center Coordinator position, added in January 2014, was also discussed at length. The recom- mendation made to the Budget Committee was to continue the position as limited duration for the next fi scal year, then reeval- uate the status. “The overall projection of $100,000 in rental revenue has been fairly consistent the last two or three years,” Wood said. However, being consistent wasn’t enough for some. “My recall is we expected a larger increase in the events center than we got,” David Dempster said. “If I’m correct, what happened?” City Manager Chris Eppley said that memory was correct. “We were expecting to see more usage,” Eppley said. “We’re still getting our feet under us as far as a business center. What we gained was better service for the activities we have, which is valuable. We didn’t focus as much on the marketing piece, which we still have to work on.” Like Dempster, Koho had concerns about the numbers. “With this position, we bud- geted revenue to move from $98,000 to $170,000,” Koho said. “We spent $31,000 on this position. We made a jump of $1,700 in revenue with that jump of $31,000. I’m not sure it’s proving itself fi nancially.” Eppley emphasized the in- creased level of service for those using the event center. “We will always have to feed a certain amount (into the cen- ter) from the general fund,” he said. “The question becomes, is that OK? It brings people to this community and helps fi ll the hotel. There’s a spin off ben- efi t to businesses.” Bersin pointed out the cur- rent pricing strategy will make it hard to increase revenues much, in part because state agencies take advantage of “Tightwad Tuesday” special pricing. “If we want that position, we have to get more revenue,” Ber- sin said. “If we want more rev- enue, it’s time to raise the fees.” Eppley said such a proposal will be given to the city council soon. Mayor Cathy Clark doesn’t want to see the position go away. “As long as we bring clients in, we will need to maintain it,” Clark said. Bersin said he’s not opposed to keeping the position as lim- ited duration for another year. “In the next year, we need to prove the need,” he said. “This position needs to create rev- enue.” Lore Christopher suggested allowing Kristian Bouvier, who holds the position, to do more marketing. “I think we should give $5,000 for marketing,” Chris- topher said. “We need to chal- lenge Kristian to come up with a plan to market that space and we need to aggressively market that. We need to give her the tools. And we’ve got to get on the government agencies who are taking advantage of the low rates. That program was designed for local non-profi ts with a $20,000 total budget, not state agencies.” Councilor Amy Ripp agreed with the marketing idea. “Kristian has done so much with so little,” Ripp said. “She’s done a lot without funding and support. Maybe start with a number like $5,000. I think the numbers will come to fruition.” A motion was approved to increase the marketing amount to $5,000. Park operations was the last section discussed during the meeting. Bersin recalled how Richard Walsh, a Parks Board member, had asked for $4,000 more in matching grant pro- gram funds at the May 5 budget meeting. That led to committee members looking at various line items, seeking places to get the $4,000 from until city councilor Dennis Koho suggested taking $5,000 out of the $75,000 line item for contractual services, which pays for temporary help. “Then there could be a re- duction in the level of service for other parks,” cautioned Bill Lawyer, Public Works director for Keizer. Koho didn’t seem fazed. “I have confi dence staff can do it,” Koho replied. Mayor Clark was against the idea. “One thing we get criticized for is we don’t maintain the parks,” she said. “This line item is for temporary labor. We have more park properties now. It’s important in my book to keep parks maintained, so I’m a no (vote).” Councilor Roland Herrera took a contrary view. “The grant program is le- veraging money there,” Herrera said. “I really believe it’s more effective to use that money in the parks grant program.” Christopher agreed. “If we put that money into leveraging, we’ll get two to three times the amount,” the former mayor said. “I agree with councilor Herrera. The money is better spent there.” Jerry McGee noted the matching grant program started this fi scal year and thus sug- gested watching the program for another year before putting more funds into it. “I want to see more of a history of this grant program,” McGee said. “I want to see ac- countability.” Councilor Marlene Quinn agreed with McGee, but Bersin didn’t. “The city made a commit- ment to the matching grant program until we get a sense it’s not being used successfully,” Bersin said. “One thing the city does that touches the most peo- ple is the parks. It’s what brings people to live in the city.” Small amounts lead to bigger discussions By CRAIG MURPHY Of the Keizertimes In a city budget of $38 mil- lion, some of the most spirited debate among Keizer Budget Committee members revolved around a $1,200 item. The Budget Committee met for a fi nal time Tuesday, approv- ing a city budget. Keizer City Councilors are expected to vote on the budget June 1. Councilor Amy Ripp pro- posed adding $1,200 to the Keizer Community Library, to help with a rent increase in the Keizer Heritage Center, thus giving the library $8,600 total. Ron Bersin and Lore Chris- topher expressed disapproval. “I want them to keep sup- porting themselves,” Christo- pher said. “They can sustain that $1,200 increase. They will be fi ne.” Mayor Cathy Clark said fears of the increase becoming a pat- tern are unfounded. “The increase is in large part going from a volunteer doing maintenance on the building to a part-time person doing the maintenance,” Clark said. David Dempster liked the idea of the $1,200 addition. “For the $1,200 that’s prob- ably the best bang for the buck in the budget, better than the parks (matching grant) pro- gram,” Dempster said. “People coming in and using those li- brary computers have no other access.” The vote on Ripp’s motion was 6-6, with Dennis Koho and Brandon Smith absent. Due to the tie, the motion failed. In other business May 12: • There is now more money for marketing the Keizer Com- munity Center. Previously the marketing budget had been in- creased from $1,500 to $5,000, with that $3,500 increase com- ing from a contingency fund. An additional $1,000 was ap- proved on Tuesday. The money came out of the $2,500 previ- ously allotted to the Keizer Chamber of Commerce. That means the city is giving the chamber $1,500. Christopher suggested the movement of the $1,000, not- ing $1,200 allocated for the chamber last year for an event wasn’t used. “We didn’t spend it, so why put it back in again?” Christo- pher asked rhetorically. “Not to take that away, but instead let’s move $1,000 into the commu- nity center. Kristian (Bouvier) can work with whatever part- ners.” The motion was approved unanimously. • The Urban Renewal Agen- cy budget was also approved unanimously on Tuesday. Business&Services APPLIANCES ATTORNEY Nigel Guisinger 503-304-4886 • Personal Injuries Worker’s Compensation Personal Injury • Auto Accidents 3800 River Rd N in Keizer 503-390-0161 Estate Planning Elder Law Probate Social Security Attorneys at Law Enjoy the Iris Festival! Owner ATTORNEY Walsh & Associates Jean M. 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