Funding for paving, drainage, Pilgrim’s Pride property, a new recreation center and city employee health costs will all be discussed during the City Council budget hearing, tentatively set for Sept. 13.

City Council President Joseph Cannon said he and fellow council members Chris Seibert, Harold Wales, Frank Travis and Wayne Harper will want to discuss paving and drainage projects for each district during the hearing.

In preparation for the hearing, Mayor Ronnie Marks and City Clerk Annette Barnes have prepared a proposed $28 million general fund budget for the city, covering all city departments.

They also review budgets for the departments of Athens Utilities.

“My job as mayor and financial director is to present a good, balanced budget, and our job is already largely done,” Marks said. “We need another week to get with all of the department heads and make cuts where needed and then present the budget to the City Council so they can make adjustments.”

In about a month, the city will have budgets for outside agencies seeking appropriations from the city in exchange for whatever service they provide.

Making budgeting difficult again this year is what the mayor called “a huge deficit” with the insurance budget. Rising health care costs and benefit packages make that a struggle.

“This is another good budget and we are in good shape,” Marks said. “We have been very very fortunate about our revenue stream and we have very good department heads keeping costs down. The vital area is how to make adjustments with the rising cost of health care and the rising cost of benefits packages.”

(The city is self-insured.)

“I have made a decision to increase insurance premiums charged to employees and that will be approved by the City Council,” he said.

Marks said he does not believe there are any major hurdles existing between the administration and City Council.

Cannon said some council members have expressed wanting to discuss which streets are in need of paving and drainage. Public Works Director James Rich creates a prioritized list of street paving projects, sidewalk installation and repair projects, and drainage projects each year. The council reviews them and can make adjustments.

Cannon said it is not the job of council members to tell department heads their day-to-day duties but they do like to take time at the budget hearing to tell them what projects are significant to their constituents.

“I think there will be some of that from all of us,” he said.

Along those lines, he said the council may discuss installing some small islands or bulb outs to try to slow speeding traffic along straightaways in different districts. Speed limits don’t always work in such areas.

Pilgrim’s Pride

Cannon said the council is still waiting for the soil and water quality study to be performed at the former Pilgrim’s Pride chicken plant property off of Pryor Street before deciding whether to buy it for $550,000. The company moved its plant from the city in 2009 without notice and the building has stood idle. Marks has considered it his mission to get the property cleaned up and possibly used for mixed-use residential and commercial development. The mayor mentioned that a section of the site might be a good place for a proposed dog park, though he said the proposed new recreation center might be another possibility for that. Cannon said he had hoped a resident would donate some land for a dog park.

Although the council has agreed to buy the Pilgrim’s Pride property, it can terminate the contract if the cleanup costs turn out to be too high.

Cannon said his stomach will remain “in a ball of knots” waiting for the study. He said council members hope the project will work out. He said he does not know what the clean up number will be and he wonders how high the number can go for him to be willing to approve it. He would have preferred if a private developer rather than the city would have offered to buy the property.

Cannon said his favorite aspect of the budget hearing is its tendency to make council members feel comfortable talking freely.

“One thing I like about the work session is its a great time to be candid,” Cannon said. “Everybody is sitting at the table, and most spectators won’t stay there for a four, five or six-hour hearing.”