Despite a tough financial climate at the national and state level, the city of Marquette appears to be in sound financial health
MARQUETTE -- “No significant cuts, but we do have some significant improvements," said City of Marquette Mayor John Kivela.
A Marquette City Commission meeting was called to order at 5 p.m. Wednesday evening where the 2011-2012 proposed budget was reviewed by city leaders.
Kivela says the city has a balanced budget based on the most conservative revenue projections.
"We're in good financial shape," Kivela said.
As a consequence, the proposed budget adds city jobs. It includes $30,000 in funding for a new full-time assessing assistant.
"That department has been overworked for many years,” Kivela said. “As the city gets bigger, develops more, it's just an area where we struggle to keep up."
It also includes $50,000 in funding for a new detective for the police department who will work with the FBI on cyber crimes.
“That's a new program,” Kivela said. “We know that's an area of expanded criminal endeavor, so we've created a new position to fight that."
In addition, the document adds three part-time positions in human resources, engineering and marketing as well as elevating a part-time management analyst employee to full-time status.
"We've been able to balance the budget, hire more employees and do it on the lowest revenue projections, which is outstanding,” Kivela said. “We're paying down debt; we're accomplishing a lot of things."
As for the next step, a public hearing will be held on May 9 where the proposed budget is expected to be reviewed and passed.
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