Marion still hasn’t released budget
Staff writer
Marion City Council has yet to release its budget or conduct a public hearing.
Interim city administrator Mark McAnarney told council members Tuesday that the budget was “a very rough draft,” which council members, basically for the first time, are scheduled to discuss at a 5 p.m. meeting on Monday.
An accountant with the Loyd Group will be at the meeting, McAnarney said.
A public budget hearing will be at 5 p.m. a week later during the council’s next regular meeting.
That will give the city only 15 days to turn the completed budget over to the county clerk. Oct. 1 is the deadline.
In other matters Tuesday, McAnarney told council members that engineer Darrin Neufeld had applied for a $50,000 grant from the Kansas Water Office.
City attorney Brian Bina, expected to talk to council members about a release and settlement agreement, did not appear at the meeting.
Mayor Mike Powers announced at the end of the meeting that video recording would continue at the end of council meetings so reporters could be recorded coming to the speakers’ table and ask questions.
He also warned that “negativity” in the city would make it hard to find young people to fill vacancies such as city administrator or police chief unless the city was willing to pay premium salaries.