West Newsmagazine 12-12-18

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December 12, 2018
WEST NEWSMAGAZINE
I NEWS I 11
Ellisville Police Foundation receives unanimous city council approval
By JESSICA MESZAROS
At its Dec. 5 meeting, the Ellisville City
Council voted unanimously in favor of an
ordinance that would establish the Ellisville
Police Foundation, including the creation
of an oversight board and providing
for the proper accounting and reporting of
the operations of the foundation.
According to Police Chief Steve Lewis,
who has over 31 years of experience in
law enforcement and is active in multiple
policing boards in the St. Louis area, the
creation of the foundation was inspired by
the city’s police department citing additional
purchases that could aid the officers
and officials in the department and that
could be made possible through additional
funding.
Lewis said the main goal of the foundation
would be to meet the needs of the
department’s police officers.
Through voluntary participation, businesses
or individuals interested in the
foundation will be able to donate funds,
via different sponsorship levels, with 100
percent of the funds benefitting the officers.
Also, no foundation funds will be used
The Ellisville Police Department
to purchase items already included in the
city’s budget.
“… This is not because we’re not
receiving funding from the city for budget
items,” Lewis said. “The city provides
for our police department. Everything
[we] need to do our police services, the
city provides us 100 percent. This is just
‘in addition to.’ This is something that, if
people want to show their support for law
enforcement, this is a methodology for
[doing that].”
[Ellisville Police Department Photo]
Some items foundation funds could go
toward include exercise equipment for the
police training facility, backup weapons,
personal trauma kits, active shooter training
equipment and alternative vehicles.
Additionally, the foundation would provide
financial aid in the event of injury to
an officer.
The board of the foundation will consist
of five members, with the police chief
serving as chairman for the length of his or
her employment.
To start, three board members will be
appointed by the city council, each to serve
a one-year term. Beginning in the foundation’s
second year, three of the board
members will come from donors from
the previous year. The owner or manager
of a business that donates to the foundation
is eligible to serve based on the business’
contribution. Board members then
will serve a two-year term starting on Jan.
1 and so on.
Two of the board positions will be
offered to the two largest donors. If one or
neither person is interested, then the next
largest donor will be offered the position
until both two-year terms are filled.
The ordinance’s original language had
the fourth position being solicited from
the general membership of donating businesses
and citizens by the city manager.
However, after some discussion at the
meeting, Councilmember Vince McGrath
[District 1] proposed an amendment to see
the elimination of a city manager’s pick of
a board member and instead requested that
the responsibility should be brought back
See ELLISVILLE POLICE, page 15
Manchester approves 2019 budget, anticipates Prop S-funded improvements
By BONNIE KRUEGER
The 2019 budget was approved on a
5-0 vote at the regular Manchester Board
of Aldermen meeting on Dec 3. Alderman
Nelson Nolte [Ward 1] was absent.
City Administrator Larry Perney began
the budget process in early July, which
included meeting with department heads,
work sessions with aldermen and two
public budget meetings held in October.
The city’s 2019 beginning balance is
expected to be slightly over $22 million
with projected revenue of $22,199.808 and
projected expenditures of $22,262,871.
The city anticipates a 26.8-percent
decrease in revenues as the result of Prop
S [street and sidewalk improvements] bond
proceeds [$9 million] being reflected in
Manchester’s 2018 budget. No bond proceeds
are anticipated for 2019; rather, a 20.2
percent rise in expenditures is expected, the
result of additional capital projects planned
for 2019 using Prop S monies.
Budgeted revenue [$9.9 million] in the
general fund reflects $7.5 million in tax
revenues with the balance resulting from
intergovernmental revenues, licenses and
permits, fines and court costs, investment
earnings, and charges for aquatic and parks
programming.
Nearly 40 percent of the $9.9 million
general fund expenditure budget is designated
for the police department. The
public works department is budgeted at
$2,470,955 in expenditures, 2 percent
higher than in 2018. A transfer of $500,000
from the capital fund to the general fund
will be made in 2019 due to borrowing
against the general fund in the past and
making a yearly transfer to pay it back
incrementally. The city was unable to tell
West Newsmagazine what the total amount
of the deficit comes to and what balance
remains to be paid back.
Going into 2019, the city will continue
with tax rates of $0.042 for residential real
estate, $0.045 for commercial real estate
and $0.050 for personal property tax per
$100 valuation. Additionally, residents will
continue to pay $0.28 per $100 assessed
valuation as part of the $16 million Prop
S that voters approved in April to fix city
streets and sidewalks.
Anthem, Inc., a division of Blue Cross
Blue Shield, through broker Beattie and
Associates, will be the health insurance
provider again in 2019, with a 4-percent
premium increase. Perney negotiated with
the broker to offer a 15-month health insurance
contract, which began Oct. 1, 2018,
and runs through Dec. 31, 2019. Previously,
employee benefits ran for a 12-month
period from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30. Beginning
in 2020, those benefits will follow the
12-month calendar year and align with the
city’s fiscal budget.
In 2017, Perney detailed an eight-page
plan calling for a 16.7-percent increase in
total salaries, which translates into a city
payroll increase of $664,071 over a fouryear
period. The increase is budgeted for
approximately $300,000 in 2019, with
$100,000 of that slated for retirement contributions.
The city is offering an additional
2 percent to the current 5 percent investment
contribution, as long as the employee
contributes at a rate of 4 percent.
After approving the 2019 budget, Alderman
Rich Baumann [Ward 3] expressed
concerns regarding employee benefits.
“I have searched out feedback from some
employees and from what I have been
hearing, they think this new retirement
option is good, but they still have concerns
about the cost of the [health] insurance.
Those concerns are validated by the loss of
four employees [two police and two public
works],” he said. “I am proposing that the
employee committee meet this year and
give the aldermen some recommendations
on how best to use the $200,000 of benefit
money needed to get the employees up to
the 50th percentile [of local municipalities].
Because this problem directly affects
our employees, I want input from them on
how we can solve it.” No further discussion
took place at that time.
Major projects slated for work in 2019
include:
• $330,000; Howard George Drive bridge
deck resurfacing
• $300,000; Street and sidewalk replacement
using capital funds
• $135,000; Replace medium duty dump
truck
• $120,000; Replace three police patrol
vehicles with equipment
• $125,000; City Hall exterior and balcony
improvements
• $175,000; Paul A. Schroeder Park parking
lot asphalt overlay
• $132,000; Channel B watershed project
• $230,000; Channel JA improvement
project
• $125,000; Storm inlet repairs
• $120,000; Pontoison Drive storm water
improvement
• $3 million; Chadwick/Brookvale relief
project to resolve excessive flooding in
Chadwick subdivision. Approximately
1,350 feet of new pipe will connect to the
existing channel at Villaview Drive and
dump near the Chadwick subdivision pool.
The sanitation sewer lines also will be
extended. A $700,000 grant from Metropolitan
Sewer District will help offset the
total cost.