More than $29 million.

That’s how much the city of McAlester has budgeted for the coming fiscal year — and that doesn’t include the 30 percent utility rate hike passed last October.

City officials are still looking over the new budget for the 2007 fiscal year, which begins on July 1.

City councilors must approve it before it becomes official, with the first public airing of the document expected at the city council meeting set for June 13.

City personnel, including Assistant City Manager Bart Van Nieuwenhuise, Assistant City Treasurer Sherry Alessi and City Engineer George Marcangeli, worked with other staff members to get the budget completed Thursday night.

“The budget presented is a balanced budget in the amount of $29,132,884 with a dedicated cash reserve of $150,000,” Van Nieuwenhuise said in a budget memo. “The proposed budget is delivered to take positive steps to regain the confidence and trust of McAlester citizens.”

One of the steps is establishing a cash reserve and the dedicated payment of $150,000 to capital improvement and economic development funds. The money is to repay $4,083,013 which had previously been spent for other purposes after being improperly taken from bond revenues.

The figure had previously been cited as $3.2 million, until recent work by Kern Shores & Co. revealed the higher amount.

“It is the intent to pay the funds back over a 10 to 15 year period,” Van Nieuwenhuise said.

The money will be spent for citizen-approved additional capital improvement and economic development projects, he said.

Unlike last year’s budget, which projected growth in sales tax revenue at 10 percent, the new budget is making a more conservative estimate of a 4 percent increase.

It also used an estimate of a 5 percent increase in utility rate revenues, instead of the 30 percent increase passed by the council in October 2005.

One reason for that is there is no guarantee the revenues will continue at the 30 percent level, since the council is set to take another look at the rate increase later this month.

The budget also includes a plan to fully automate garbage collections over a three-year period, requiring an initial investment of $400,000 to purchase new equipment and residential garbage containers.

That would result in once a week pickup for 50 percent of the city garbage routes, although which routes would be affected aren’t specified in the budget.

“It is proposed to recoup the cost of the 95 gallon containers with a one-time charge of $5 per month for one year on the residential garbage bills for the customers in this program,” the budget states.

“The timing for this program is critical because the average age of residential garbage trucks is 10-15 years. The maintenance cost to continue operating the fleet is high enough to pay for the replacement equipment over a three-year period.”

“The realized savings will be in the reduction of personnel required to operate these automated trucks from three employees to one employee.”

Also included in the budget is four new full-time positions: A city planner for the Codes Department, a building maintenance worker, a full-time traffic control technician and a full-time groundskeeper at McAlester Regional Airport.

The budget contains $15,000 for Oklahomans for Independent Living.

It also proposes funding for the McAlester Economic Development Service.

“The agency has proposed funding in the amount of $120,000. The funding is for the operational expense of the organization. The annual total requirement for their operations is $200,000,” Van Nieuwenhuise said in the budget.

He said MEDS is essential in the recruitment of industrial and commercial partners.

Van Nieuwenhuise said the city has achieved a 9 percent reduction in cell phone usage and a temporary reduction in personnel. He said the new phone system installed at City Hall is saving approximately $1,000 per month.

Editor’s note: More information on the budget will be included in forthcoming articles.