Unlike Tooele City, Grantsville does not plan to dip into reserves to balance the budget, nor will it follow Tooele City officials’ lead in declining pay increases. In fact, the Grantsville budget includes a 4 percent cost-of-living increase for all city employees plus 3 percent step increases.
The Grantsville City Police Department was one of several departments that saw a budget increase from last year, going up 14 percent to $1.2 million for 2008-09. Grantsville City Police Chief Dan Johnson said the increase will allow him to add an officer to keep up with increasing calls for service.
“We need a new police officer on staff because we have had 600 more calls for service for this year at this time than we did for this time last year,” Johnson said. “Our new officer will also require more money in fuel and maintenance costs. In addition to the new officer, the increased budget will also cover higher fuel costs overall, new data phones for our department, and two new police cars, one of which will be used by the new officer.”
Several other city departments saw budget increases. A total of $741,000 was allocated for the Class C road department — which is used to keep the city’s roads drivable and well-maintained — up from only $169,000 last year. The almost $600,000 increase is due to restricted funds from the department being unused, which left it with additional funds this year.
The Grantsville Volunteer Fire Department will get an increase of 32 percent — from $350,000 last fiscal year to $460,400 this year. The city court will see its allocation rise 12 percent to $250,966.
The 2008-09 budget also includes increased funding for capital works projects. One of these is for the water capital project, which went from a budget of $300,000 to $404,500. The increase was primarily for the redrilling of city well No. 2, as well as upgrading of the well and hydrant replacement.
Another major budget increase was for the capital outlay of the city’s sewer plant, which went from a budget of only $225,000 for 07-08, to a total of $1.5 million for 08-09. Expenses for the plant would include the updating and refurbishing of equipment. The entire project is expected to cost $2 million.
dougrad@tooeletranscript.com
Chief Johnson hasn't done squat accept want more salary..
These are the kind of things that are community builders, and yet, here we go paying for more police cars and officers, and overpaying the city employees, which are not the most "customer oriented" people that I have ever had the pleasure of contacting.
Bottom line is we could be utilizing the county for police services, saving us a ton of money and getting somethings that would really make a positive impact on the community.
In case you are wondering why it is so big, we have a lot of equipment in this new station that we were unable to fit into the old one. This allows us to keep it ready to go, instead of in the back lot. The size also allows us to train inside during the winter months, something we had a hard time doing before. The facility is also used as a community center of sorts. The meet Santa function was held there last Christmas, there are many hunter safety classes, as well as other functions there. Again, you are invited to come on down and take a look on the 4th.
Also, Chief Johnson has done and excellent job of protecting this city. While there are problem issues, he and his staff do very well at keeping them under control.
You love me! I know you do.
Bubba55, Don't your ever sleep?
I learned to parallel park in high school. I love Grantsville, I spent most of my life working on my cousins farm, besides it makes Tooele look good. (only kidding and having a little rival fun)
ANd by the way, "Welcome to tooele, You can bowl... thats about it."