By Justin Dennis

jdennis@vindy.com

CANFIELD

City council approved an $11.2 million budget for the 2019 fiscal year.

The budget includes $4.36 million in the city’s general fund, inside which is about $259,000 for the office of City Manager Wade Calhoun, about $228,000 for the finance department and about $203,000 for the income tax department.

The police department is set to receive $2.6 million from the city’s general fund and an additional $843,000 from police department levy revenues.

The city has also set aside about $287,000 for stormwater enterprise funds, $169,000 of which is for capital improvements to storm sewers and drains; about $1.7 million in sanitary sewer enterprise funds, the majority of which is for operations; and $1.95 million in water-enterprise funds, $1.2 million of which is for buying water from Youngstown.

City Finance Director Christine Stack-Clayton said Wednesday city administrators may consider a sanitary-sewer rate increase “at some point,” as Youngstown currently bills Canfield $6.13 per 1,000 gallons of sanitary sewer water, for which Canfield bills residents $7.17 – leaving a little more than a dollar for infrastructure improvements, she said.

The city’s total water and sanitary funds have about $246,000 and $811,000, respectively, in projected carryover for emergencies, Stack-Clayton said.

About $1.6 million is also appropriated for street maintenance and improvements.

Calhoun said departmental budget requests came in a total of nearly $220,000 less than in 2018.

“We invested a lot last year in catching public works up on their equipment purchases,” Calhoun said.

The city anticipates about $14.5 million in revenue for 2019, leaving a projected carryover of $3.2 million.

In other business, city council members selected Youngstown engineering and planning firm MS Consultants to develop the city’s comprehensive plan. The firm’s bid was one of five considered by a special committee.

The 12- to 18-month assessment could include studies on the area’s traffic, safety, utilities and future land uses and will include area stakeholders such as schools and the Canfield Fairgrounds, Calhoun said.

The city’s last Strategic Vision Plan was published in 2004.

“The plan is meant to be a 10-year look forward for the city of Canfield – knowing where we want to be in 10 years; what steps do we need to take now,” Calhoun said.

The firm estimated the project could cost about $155,000, about $6,000 more than the next offer council was considering. Calhoun noted, however, a final cost is still to be negotiated.