CORRECTION: The original version of this brief contained an error in how city revenues were split in the next fiscal year’s draft budget. The relevant lines have been corrected. We apologize for any confusion this may have caused–LINK nky editorial, June 8, 2024.
The Independence City Council voted to enact the budget for the next fiscal year, which begins July 1, at their meeting Monday night. They also voted to preliminarily set aside funds for the possibility of a splash pad at Memorial Park, an idea Mayor Chris Reinersman pitched at the council meeting last month.
The set-aside itself did not establish a new fund within the budget and does not necessarily guarantee a splash pad will materialize in the city.
Draft budget documents furnished by the city put projected property tax revenues for the next fiscal year at about $4.9 million and payroll tax revenues at $4.5 million. The draft budget also stated that overall revenues exceeded overall expenses. Reinersman was generally positive about the city’s finances during his budget speech in May and noted that the new budget did not rely on increased property taxes.
In May, the mayor estimated the cost of building a splash pad to be about $500,000 and recommended splitting the funding over a three-year period, beginning in the current fiscal year and continuing over the next two fiscal years. He added that the city would likely seek grant funding to offset the expense.
The city must still conduct research on engineering, location and cost before making final decisions on whether to construct a splash pad. If the splash pad doesn’t work out, the money set aside on Monday can be reallocated to other parts of the city budget down the line.
Additionally, council members Carol Franzen and Greg Steffen said at Monday’s meeting that the were in the process of researching other splash pads in the region and were preparing a presentation for the rest of the council. They plan on giving the presentation at the next council meeting in July.
View figures related to the city’s budget for this fiscal year as well as a map of building permits and police runs at Independence’s online transparency portal.
The next meeting of the Independence City Council will take place on Monday, July 1 at 7 p.m. at the Independence City Building on Madison Pike.