YOUNGSTOWN — City council on Tuesday will consider approving a $200 million city budget that includes about $2.3 million for new equipment purchases and improvement projects.

The equipment and improvement work is being paid from unused money the city received from the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act and state workers’ compensation refunds, said Kyle Miasek, the city’s finance director. The city received $5.3 million from the CARES Act and $1.89 million in workers’ comp refunds.

The city used $1.06 million from the two funding sources last year for capital purchases.

“We haven’t been able to make these large investments in equipment and other purchases in a few years because the money hasn’t been available,” Miasek said. “This was generated by one-time revenue, which allows us to spend it on projects of this size and scope. We’re using it for service delivery.”

The street department is budgeted to get $1.47 million — the most of any city department.

It will use it to buy two street sweepers at a cost of $420,000, as well as six brush hog tractors to mow high grass, two zero-turn lawn mowers, a tractor and two trucks. It also includes $400,000 to replace the roof at the street department office on Teamster Drive, $145,000 to replace the roof on the nearby salt dome and $75,000 to build another open-air facility to store road salt.

The police department is budgeted to get $530,000 with the biggest purchase being seven SUVs at a cost of $420,000. The rest of the money is to buy 10 used unmarked vehicles and radio chargers.

The parks and recreation department will get $138,500 with the largest expense being $78,000 to buy two mowers for the city-owned Henry Stambaugh Golf Course. The rest of the money is for two zero-turn mowers, two office copiers and other lawn equipment.

“We haven’t made real investments in years,” said Councilwoman Lauren McNally, D-5th Ward and chairwoman of the finance committee. “Now that we have the extra money, we need to invest in the street and the parks departments. Those are the departments that make people want to live in the city. We should take the opportunity when we have it.”

The public works department is getting $75,000 to make improvements to the police station’s garage, the health department is receiving $65,000 for two vehicles and two office copiers, the fire department is getting $31,200 for a lift so it can get underneath its heaviest fire trucks to make repairs, and the prosecutor’s office is getting $10,500 for a copier.

The city last year spent $1.06 million for capital purchases from unused CARES Act and workers’ comp money. That included two snow-plow trucks, money to refurbish a fire truck, a truck for the environmental sanitation department to help haul used mattresses, and roof repairs to a fire station.

EXPENSES

The proposed budget includes hiring 10 new firefighters with annual starting salaries of $37,145 and at least 10 new police officers with annual starting salaries of $41,600. The new police hires are on top of the five that joined the force earlier this month.

The new hires will cost the city more than $1 million this year, including health benefits.

Also included in the budget is a 2 percent raise for city employees this year. The pay increases alone will cost the city’s general government fund $995,635 this year and the 2.5 percent raise for 2023 will cost $1,232,780.

The city workforce will also get a 2.5 percent raise in 2024.

The city collected $46,931,000 last year from its 2.75 percent income tax when it had budgeted $43,601,000. It received $44,404,600 in 2020, which was considerably less than the $47,133,500 it received in 2019.

The city can’t use its $82,775,370 federal American Rescue Plan Act money to directly pay for salary and benefits, but it can use it to reimburse the general fund for income tax revenue lost during the COVID-19 pandemic. It can use the previous three years before the pandemic and compare it to 2020 and 2021 income tax revenues.

Using 2017 to 2019 as a comparison to 2020, the city can recoup $3,939,400 for lost revenue for that year from ARP, Miasek said. The city isn’t considering seeking money from ARP for 2021.

The administration hasn’t asked city council yet for permission to transfer that money to the general fund though it is expected to do that soon and then likely postpone using it until closer to the end of the year when it can better determine how much money remains in the fund.

One area of concern is income tax refunds, Miasek said.

A state law permits people, starting with the 2021 tax year, who used to work in municipalities that charge income taxes such as Youngstown, and now work from home in non-income tax communities as a result of the pandemic, to seek refunds.

The law wasn’t in place for the 2020 tax year, but the city received 140 refund requests totaling $211,648 for that year from people who believed it had taken effect, Miasek said.

“We have to figure out how much we’ll have to refund in 2021,” he said. “We won’t know until late fall to see what’s requested.”

Miasek is projecting a 1.1 percent increase this year in income tax collections compared with 2021. He expects $47,440,000 in tax revenue because labor market forces have resulted in salary increases.

dskolnick@vindy.com