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Reno council stretches a tight budget
By Krista Goerte
Published September 15, 2009
RENO — City council members have agreed to give up their own water rate discounts, automatically received as part of their service to the city, in the interest of stretching a tight budget a little bit farther.
Unanimously, the council agreed city employees and members of the Reno Volunteer Fire Department should continue to receive the discount, and also agreed to extend the discount to the police reserves, which are to be established sometime in the future.
Council members and individuals on other Reno committees account for about $4,200 in discounted funds annually, said Mike Chapman, city council member, not counting city employees or Reno VFD members.
“That doesn’t sound like a whole lot, but when you’re in a budget crunch, it is quite a bit,” said council member Jerry McFadden. “Most of us came on board, either committee or council, not realizing there was a discount involved. And we came on not knowing about it and not expecting it. My opinion, we should do away with it. If you want to volunteer your time, then do it strictly voluntary.”
The council discussed possibly asking members of other Reno committees to also give up their discount.
The subject of an economic development study done by the University of Texas at Arlington was also lengthily discussed at the meeting.
Jerry McFadden and members of the Reno Economic Development Committee thought the study would be in the city’s best interests, at a cost of about $8,400.
“We have been, in effect, trying to get businesses into Reno for approximately 47 years with no professional help,” McFadden said. “No one on this committee is professionally qualified to go out and try to help us get businesses. The committee (Reno EDC) has spoken to the former director of the chamber of commerce in Lamar County and one of the recommendations was we do a survey or a study to find out our strengths and our weaknesses and have it done by a professional organization so we can better represent Reno to the economic community and hopefully bring businesses into the area.”
Chapman said his recent discussion with Clarksville Mayor Ann Rushing about a similar study completed in Clarksville led him to believe Reno might possibly be able to get a study done by another college at no cost to the City of Reno. Also, he said a recent study by the City of Paris might be used to Reno’s advantage, because the cities are so closely tied.
Bill Plummer and David Brooks, both Reno EDC members, were not opposed to checking into receiving the study for free, but were concerned that another length of time would go by until some action was taken, which would not be in the city’s best interests. UTA could begin the process soon, which would mean quicker results, Brooks said.
The council agreed to do more research into the possibility of receiving the study for free, and bring the agenda item up again at the Sept. 21 budget workshop.
In other business the council:
•Agreed to establish e-bill and e-pay, which are online payment capabilities through the City of Reno Web site;
•Adopted a resolution contracting a Reno municipal judge;
•Discussed the city’s current pay scale, to be brought up again at a later meeting; and
•Set the city’s fall cleanup for Oct. 10-11, 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., excluding all commercial trash disposal.
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