Warsaw City Council approved preliminary adoption of the city's 2008 budget Tuesday.
The proposed general fund total is $11,287,453; a $316,603 increase from last year's total. The council approved cuts city department heads made to their original requests. The cuts accounted for a reduction of $203,000 from the original requested budget of $11,490,453.
Councilmen Joe Thallemer, Jeff Grose, Charles Smith, George Clemens, Jerry Patterson and Bill Rhoades voted to approve the budget; councilman Bob Morrison was absent. Final approval of the budget is scheduled for Sept. 17.
The council also approved cuts to the city's 2007 budget. City Clerk-Treasurer Elaine Call said the city has $6,500,786 left to spend this year. The cuts reduced that total by $254,000.
The council took no action on 2008 funding requests from local not-for-profit organizations. Several councilmen said they want to see how much revenue the city will be allowed to request before approving the funding to the non-profits.
"I would be in favor of holding up on these until we see where we're at and pass the word along that some of these may need to be reduced," said Thallemer.
Grose said he is not comfortable approving increased non-profit requests after asking city departments to make cuts.
"I think we need to be careful and be respectful of the departments in the city," Grose said. "I just think we need to be fair, not only to the taxpayers, but also to the people who work for the city."
Rhoades said the council should consider approving only the amount of funding the city gave each non-profit last year, with the exception of the Animal Welfare League.
Clemens agreed. "If we didn't have all those volunteers and if they weren't running it efficiently, it would be a disaster for us," Clemens said.
The council dismissed the city fire department's request for an additional appropriation to the cumulative fire fund for the purchase of a new fire truck. The city currently is considering the creation of a joint fire territory in cooperation with Wayne Township and Winona Lake. Warsaw Mayor Ernie Wiggins said the city should wait to see whether the territory is established before approving the requested money.
