By Alex Benzegala
Panhandle Post
The Alliance City Council held their meeting on Tuesday evening, one of the major items was the agenda for fiscal year 2023-24. Alliance City Manager Seth Sorensen says the budget is a little bit lower than previous years and he explains why.
We went through a process called 'zero based budgeting' which means setting all of the department's budgets to zero," Sorensen explains.
"They had to build it up from there with the only exceptions being commodities like oil and gas. The process shaved off a couple million dollars just by being a little more conscientious about it."
While the budget is lower, rate increases will go up for utilities except for electric and Sorensen says that the City of Alliance has been doing a 1% increase for over a decade and the city is looking at doing a ten-year capital improvements plan. To do that, there will be a rise in utility costs. Increases include 5% in the water fund, Sewer & refuse will see a 25% increase, while golf course will see a 10% increase.
The raises came about through recommendations Sorensen made to City Council that included reasons for increases that included rising costs, offsetting previous habits of borrowing money and by paying cash and not interest.
Sorensen says that the city of Alliance will be working on putting all things related to the budget and utility increases on https://www.cityofalliance.net/.