Politics & Government

$28.4 Million Budget Gets Second Reading

Stow City Council hears second reading of annual budget ordinance

Stow's $28.4 million 2013 operating budget quietly received its second reading at Stow City Council Thursday with no comment from either council or the audience.

The budget will again go to the finance committee for discussion on Monday, Marcy 25, and is likely to get its final reading at the March 28 regular council meeting.

The budget has "an effective deficit of $1.414 million," Stow Councilman Mike Rasor wrote on his Stow Patch blog. Click here to read Rasor's blog on the budget.

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Stow will continue vacancies at several city jobs to keep the 2013 budget tight.

In 2009, the city employed 276 full-time workers. In 2013 the city is budgeting for 232 full-time employees, a figure that represents a drop of 16 percent or 44 full-time employees in four years.

Find out what's happening in Stowwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Also for 2013 the city is "holding back" $875,000 from its capital improvements fund to bolster Stow's general fund. So money that in flush years would have paid for infrastructure updates will instead be used for general operations.

Stow started a "hold-back" policy in 2009 from the capital improvements fund in order to stabilize the general fund, which was waning due to falling revenue from the recession fall-out.

Stow Mayor Sara Drew said Monday the 2013 budget reflects a need for the city to maintain services and infrastructure, make necessary investments and work toward long-term stability.


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