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By Carol Arnett

The Florissant City Council held a budget review meeting last week to check on the progress of the city’s fiscal year, and see how closely to the budget the city is staying.

Council President Tom Schneider explained that the meeting was to give the council a chance to discuss the budget and hear a presentation from City Finance Director Randy McDaniel. The quarterly meetings, Schneider said, kept the council up to date on any budget issues during the year.

The meeting also gave Mayor Robert Lowery a chance to update the council on the city’s financial shape.

“There is no need to panic,” McDaniel said. He said that the city is taking in less revenue, as are most cities right now. However, he said, the city planned for this, and is still in good financial shape.

“We’re not in great shape, but we’re not in really bad shape,” Lowery said. “We’re in fair shape.” Lowery noted that departments have already cut back to accommodate having less funding. He also noted that the city has been able to keep all essential services.

There was also some good news, Lowery noted. The city has applied for, and received, several grants. Lowery said he was especially excited about a grant from the Department of Natural Resources to make city buildings more energy-efficient.

The grant would pay 30% of the cost of improvements. Lowery said that an energy audit showed the city had approximately $500,000 in improvements that qualified for the grant. The city would pay $350,000 for these improvements. The energy audit has shown that the city could save approximately $80,000 a year on energy costs with these improvements.

One item the council questioned was a long-term lease of the cell phone tower at Bangert Park. Lowery said the city was approached by a company that wanted to lease the tower from the city, but the administration decided it was not in the city’s best interest to lease the tower. “We are not discussing this anymore,” Lowery said. “We are not pursuing it, and I will inform you if we ever do.”

Lowery also said the city anticipated receiving funds from a settlement with AT&T, and funds paid under protest in a mobile phone settlement. T-mobile has paid $300,000 to the city under protest, so the city is holding the money. “This is a precautionary measure,” Lowery said, “we do not anticipate giving it back.” The settlement was reached by the state with several carriers, and T-Mobile is the only one that paid under protest.

The city’s fiscal year runs from Dec. 1 through Nov. 30. The council is scheduled to meet quarterly for these updates.

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