11.28.23 – KAIT – WALNUT RIDGE, Ark.
A city in Northeast Arkansas is working to balance its budget after raising its pay for police officers and firefighters.
The City of Walnut Ridge approved raises for its police and fire departments a few months back.
“We have to have quality employees, but we have to be able to pay them, and that’s a problem that small towns everywhere have,” Walnut Ridge Mayor Charles Snapp said.
To ensure those raises are carried into 2024, the city will have to make some changes to its budget.
“We were afraid of the stress it was going to put on us, not to mention the possibility of a significant downturn in the economy. We cut a lot of the fluff out of the budget this year,” Snapp explained.
One of the cuts that could potentially come is city street resurfacing.
Mayor Snapp said the city would pass the budget as is, then it to the budget, if possible.
“The asphalt that we’ve been overlaying for the last nine years will have to be added back in once the council sees if we’re able to meet the projected income levels that we are,” Snapp said.
City council members are actively reviewing the proposed budget, and Snapp hopes it passes in the December council meeting.
“We actually presented the budget at the November meeting for review. We asked the council members to take it home and study it. See if they have any questions. Come back to us so we can present it to the budget committee,” Snapp added.
Despite the change in the budget, Snapp expects to be able to put thousands of dollars back in case of a rainy day or disaster.