Galesburg City Council met last night in a work session to discuss city fee options that were broken down by department.
Galesburg faces a $1.9 million budget deficit and last night’s meeting was one of many leading up to a full budget adoption this December.
A number of fee increases and even a few decrease options were introduced. The City Clerk’s office proposed new gaming terminal and gaming establishment licenses.
Parks and Recreation could increase season swimming passes at Lakeside or Hawthorne pools and called for an increase to hookup at Lake Storey campground. Increases to first time private golf cart fees at Bunker Links and a $13.50 increase for the typical household water bill was highlighted throughout the presentation as well.
City Manager Todd Thompson tells WGIL the options are not proposals at this point, though they will be taken into account for budgeting.
“In September, October, November we’ll come back and talk about these options and get more input from the council,” Thompson says. “(Last night) there wasn’t a lot of info from the council, but that’s fine, that’s kind of what was expected at this point.”
The city is also projected to need to spend more $7.8 million between 2017 and 2020 on its public water infrastructure.
That price tag includes water main work near County Highway 32 and on Frank St. as well as a $500,000 water treatment project.
Council will discuss capital improvement projects at their August work session.
