Columbia city council approves 2015 budget

The Columbia city council approved the $428 million budget for fiscal year 2015 Monday night.

The approval came with some last minute amendments.

The city voted to amend the black bag trash service. City manager Mike Matthes said the trash service was going to go into a $2 million deficit this year, so the council voted to provide 50 free trash bags instead of 75 in their voucher program. This will save an estimated $85,000.

Another big issue was the proposal to raise sanitary sewer connection fees. The council agreed to raise five-eighth inch water meters from $800 to $1,200.

But members couldn’t agree on a time frame of how fast to raise the fee in coming years.

And the third amendment was to move around money to fund CAT-TV, the city TV station.

The council voted 5-2 to five $100,000 to CAT-TV.