The Superior City Council passed a roughly $29 million budget this week. The city was able to balance the budget without raising property taxes and cutting services.
The city budget includes a 6-percent increase in funding for roads and a 2-percent wage increase for all non-union city employees.
Superior City Councilor Brent Fennessey said there were no significant changes to the budget this year.
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“Aside from, you know, a little bit of a tweak here, a little bit of a tweak there, nothing alarming whatsoever. Any of the slight changes that may have been made aren’t going to impact any of the city staff, any staffing levels or anything like that. So, it was very encouraging to see,” he said.
Fennessey said there will be no cuts to services in any city departments.
“What is important for the citizens to realize is how efficient we are running. I’ll credit this administration, and I’ll credit the previous administrations more that have got us where we’re at right now with the city. I’m not saying that it’s easy. It’s still a tight budget, but we’re sitting good right now,” he said.
Superior Mayor Jim Paine said the city was facing a $400,000 deficit when they started the budget process this year.
“We have a large amount of revenue from the oil pipeline terminal tax. We diverted a little bit more into our general fund to help create more of a surplus and that takes from future years spending in our capital improvement plan. But, our terminal tax is going up over the next couple of years. So, we expect that to be just generally good economic health, good budget practices in the past and a comprehensive and detailed process this year,” he said.
Paine said he hopes residents will review the budget.
“We put a lot of work into making sure the average citizen can read and engage with this budget,” he said.
Paine said copies of the budget are available at city hall and the Superior Public Library. A public hearing on the budget will be held sometime in mid-October before final approval in November.
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