The City has released a preview of their budget for 2020. View a copy of the overview presentation here, and the detailed proposed budget here.
Some of the proposed projects for 2020 are:
- Maintenance and updates to the Aquatic Center
- Improvements to the Whitecliff Quarry
- Repairs and renovations to the Government Center
- Begin a city-wide sidewalk review and plan.
- In 2020 the City will conduct a survey of all streets to assess the need for additional sidewalks, bicycle access, and traffic calming efforts (reduce speeding). This will give the city a starting place for an ongoing improvement process in these areas, and is also a required step for grant requests to fund it.
- Salary improvements for city personnel
- Sappington House structural repairs
- Replace failing playground surfaces at Whitecliff and Sanders parks
- Replace two police vehicles (the City typically replaces 2 vehicles per year)
- Public works vehicle replacement (2 pickup trucks)
- Sidewalk repairs ($30K, the standard annual budgeted amount)
- Street repairs (Acorn, Attucks, Banyon, Capri, Dalcrest/Dallwood, Fieldcrest, Foxpark, Greencrest, High Ave, Pinellas, Rayburn)
It is also worth noting that the City will spend more in 2020 than it anticipates receiving. This is primarily due to the renovations planned for the Government Center. That said, the city's financial status is solid and the entire board agreed that this is the right time for these updates (since major work is already being performed to recover from the flooding).
The city's financial health is strong and 2020 looks to be a year that will hopefully bring good news from Crestwood City Center (mall area) and the related benefits from such a large project in our area.