City Council

pril 26, 2019 Budget Work Session A special meeting of the Council of the City of Martinsville, Virginia, was held on April 26, 2019, in Council Chambers, Municipal Building, at 6:00PM, to conduct a budget work session with Mayor Kathy Lawson presiding. Council Members present included Mayor Lawson, Vice Mayor Chad Martin, Council Member Jim Woods, Council Member Jennifer Bowles and Council Member Danny Turner. Staff present included City Manager Leon Towarnicki, Assistant City Manager Wayne Knox, and Finance Director Linda Conover Mayor Lawson opened the Council meeting. Mayor Lawson said that the Fire Department has made some changes per Council’s recommendations and will move forward with the proposed budget, coming back to Council if they run into financial concerns. Mayor Lawson polled Council to see if three or more were in favor of increases taxes; majority of Council was not in favor so the proposed tax increase was removed from the table. Council moved forward to the School budget. City Manager Towarnicki explained that if Council wanted to designate $200,000 then the money would come from the fund balance. It would be up to Council to attach any restrictions to those additional funds. Towarnicki explained there are a variety of ways to handle approval of the schools budget request. Towarnicki provided information from the Department of Education website for Council to compare to the City school request and pointed out that the school population had decreased by 500 students in the past decade. Council discussed the repercussions if the money is pulled from the fund balance and how it would affect the City in the upcoming year and for future year budgets. Council Member Turner asked Towarnicki to check on FEMA reimbursement. Linda Conover, Finance Director stated that this year is the tightest expenditure budget she is ever worked with. Council is willing to designate up to $200,000 to the school budget but will not allocate the funds with the proposed budget. Council members agree to revisit school funding after the enrollment period and based on enrollment, can award additional money at that time if necessary. No changes were made during the Work session to affect the approval on second reading of the original presented budget. There being no further business, Council Member Bowles made a motion to adjourn. Council Member Turner second the motion with all Council Members voting in favor. The meeting adjourned at 7:00 pm. ___________________________________ ___________________________________ Karen Roberts, Clerk of Council Kathy Lawson, Mayor