Columbia city council looks over FY 2015 budget

Columbia city leaders met Tuesday night to look over the fiscal year 2015 budget.

They discussed everything from where the current city budget stands to what next year’s will need.

One of the big issues ABC 17 News has been following is the need for increased funding in the public safety department – specifically the need for more police officers.

Mayor Bob McDavid challenged the city manager to find funding for three new officers.

Leaders said they could increase prices of moving violations like speeding tickets or tickets for running stop signs as well as raising the cost of parking tickets.

That would help fund the three officers – each of whom will cost an estimated total of $100,000 for the first year alone.

Leaders also looked at where the city is in this year’s budget and said the city is right on track with some areas like transportation funding and sales tax doing even better than normal.

They will be meeting again Wednesday night to further discuss the budget.