City Council had a public hearing and first reading of the 2023 budget ordinance this past Wednesday and will have a second reading and possible vote on the budget at this Wednesday’s council meeting.
The largest portion of the budget is the city’s enterprise fund, which is proposed at $206.05 million. This section of the budget includes utility services, which are financed or recovered primarily through enterprise user charges for electric, gas, water, and wastewater.
The city’s electric rates will increase by 2% on Feb. 1, and the electric utility funds are budgeted for $131.68 million for 2023. This is year five of a five-year rate plan, and the fund will help, among other things, support improvements at the Greenup Hydroelectric plant, utility pole replacements, installing LED street lights, and metering equipment and meter replacements.
The 2023 budget will reflect the first year of a five-year rate increase for water and wastewater. The water utility fund is slated to be at $28.97 million and will help pay for water main replacements, water production plant improvements, and water meter replacements.
The second-largest fund is the general fund, and most of the city’s income tax collections are diverted there. Hamilton is budgeting an income tax collection of $33.5 million for 2023, which Finance Director Dave Jones said is “a conservative number.”
“We have to be good stewards of city money,” he said. “We don’t know what’s going to happen in ‘23, so we stayed at $33.5 million, and we were structurally balanced at that number.”
The city anticipated $30.5 million in income tax collections, but Jones said they project to bring in around $35 million, which Jones said would be a record year for the city. Through October, the city is up 16% in income tax collections compared to that same timeframe in 2021.
The city’s general fund receives the lion’s share of the city’s income tax (about $27.1 million), and the total general fund budget — which places an emphasis on neighborhood stabilization and public safety, and maintaining a fund balance that provides a cushion in the event of an economic downturn — is $55.45 million.
In addition to the income tax revenues, which would account for nearly 47% of the general fund budget’s revenue, public safety will account for the remainder of the budget.
The police and fire departments in the 2023 proposed budget will see an increase of $1,195,468 over the 2022 adopted budget, which is a 3.7%.
The Department of Neighborhoods budget increased to 46.6% with the creation and staffing of the customer-first desk, which serves city residents, outside public, tenants and city employees, in the lobby at 345 High St. as this desk added two full-time equivalent staff members to the Department of Neighborhoods.
Hamilton Municipal Court’s budget increased by 13.35% due to a wage adjustment for municipal court staff, and the replacement of computer software. The Municipal Courts also received state ARPA Funds to cover a portion of the cost of the replacement.
This fund also supports the Special Appropriations Departments, which had increased its budget by nearly 25% due to contributions to the Community Improvement Corporation (CIC) for the Upper Floor Rehab Program ($200,000) and Commercial Building Assistance Program ($100,000).
Hamilton also budgeted for an enhanced Employee Assistance Program at $150,000, and the first payment pursuant to the Community Economic Development Agreement (CEDA) with St. Clair Twp. ($350,000).
The third-largest part of the budget is the city’s Capital Projects Funds at $46.84 million.
The city’s Infrastructure Renewal Program is expected to be budgeted for $5.91 million in 2023.
Major items proposed in 2023 for this fund are the Tylersville Road reconstruction, the 2023 Concrete Repair and Resurfacing program, the Fairways Hills concrete repair and resurfacing, the Black Street Bridge rehabilitation, various traffic signal and road projects, and bike path paving.
This is also the fund that supports the new Criminal Justice Center construction, which that has $23.95 million budget for 2023. This is under the expected $32 million price tag as construction bids came in under budget. The fund accounts for the cost of the building, plus the costs of financing the funds.
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