Infrastructure, housing, public safety among top priorities in Columbia’s fiscal year 2025 budget
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Columbia city leaders revealed the fiscal year 2025 budget Thursday at City Hall, citing priorities including infrastructure, housing, social services and public safety.
Unlike years past when City Manager De’Carlon Seewood would deliver an address, the city opted to have a panel discussion with department directors instead.
The total proposed budget has $558,289,647 in expenses -- a roughly $12 million increase, or 2% from last year. The city says it generated $532,009,574. Of that total 64% comes from fees and service charges, and 15% from sales and use tax, which accounts for the bulk of the city's revenue.
Infrastructure
The city was awarded 58 grants for around $58 million. Another change to the 2025 budget is a proposed water utility rate increase. It will be around a 4% increase from last year.
The city listed three key capital improvement projects for the 2025 fiscal year to address infrastructure. The proposed budget includes allocating $500,000 for MTK Trail renovations, $4.5 million for Forum Boulevard and $1.5 million to replace the Clear Creek sewer main.
Housing and Neighborhood Services
The city has $8.6 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds for affordable housing. Director of Housing and Neighborhood Services Rebecca Thompson said during the address that goals will be to preserve existing affordable housing, incentivize new affordable housing and expand rental and rental housing programs.
Public Safety
Addressing public safety concerns is the largest point of emphasis in the fiscal 2025 budget. The City recently joined the National Institute for Criminal Justice reform as part of these efforts.
Part of the budget will go toward a new office to address violence prevention. Seewood said the office will be part of the city manager’s office. According to Seewood, funding for this office will not take away money from the police department or any other city department. He added that $500,000 was set aside in grant money to fund it.
More than half of the general fund will be allocated toward public safety, which the city says will be $68 million. Of that money, roughly half ($33 million) will go to the police department.
Columbia Police Chief Jill Schlude said that currently, CPD is sitting at a 15.5% vacancy rate. She added that the vacancy rate usually sits around 10%. Some of that funding will go to recruiting efforts. However, Schulde said that she will meet with four new applicants next week and the department is “filling the gaps at a good pace.”
Schulde also said the department will add a new Homeless Outreach Team, an idea she admitted they took from the Houston Texas Police Department. Officers on the team will work specific beats to become familiar with the homeless population and grow trust over time. She also said the team can help connect homeless people who get arrested to services to get them to help.
The city also says its social services programs will work with law enforcement. A new program called DIVERT is designed to integrate social services into public safety.
According to information provided by the city in May, the DIVERT Program "provides a compassionate approach to justice" by combining social services into the public safety and justice systems. The city says the ultimate goal is to reduce the workload on public safety departments and courts.
Director of Public Health Stephanie Browning said the demand for the program was so great that the city is looking to divert an extra $100,000 into it for the 2025 budget.
The City Council will host a work session on July 29 to discuss the proposed budget. The fiscal year begins Oct. 1.
