‘Hitting the city pretty hard’

Inflation rears its ugly head during budget considerations

At their annual budget meeting on April 3, the Newcastle City Council grappled with funding services and projects amid increased inflation.

Representatives from various orga- nizations spoke at the meeting and answered questions from council members regarding funds requested from the city. The impact of inflation on both the city and these organizations was a recurring theme throughout the evening.

The topic was first raised early in the meeting by Council President Don Steveson during an exchange with Newcastle Chamber of Commerce President Henry Nessul. Steveson noted the chamber’s request for community funds to be used for the July 4 fireworks display and the appeal in etters supplied by the chamber for the city to take into account the inflationary increase in the cost of putting on such a display.

Steveson remarked that inflation is “hitting (the city) pretty hard” and is forcing everyone to reconsider spending, then suggested the need to ask whether each expenditure is “a want or a need.”

Chris Beltz, the regional director for Campbell County Health Emergency Medical Services, spoke to the financial situation regarding the local ambulance service. He stated that the service usually breaks even and only made a marginal profit of $35,000 last year.

Beltz invoked inflation when requesting funds to provide ambulance services for the upcoming fiscal year. Citing the 7% health care inflation rate from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Beltz requested $102,500 from the city, which would be a 3.5% increase from the previous year’s amount.

Mayor Pam Gualtieri also mentioned that County Commissioner Don Taylor is willing to discuss a potential splitting of EMS costs between the county and city. This willingness appears to have been motivated by the nearly equal total of EMS calls dispatched to city and county residents.

According to Gualtieri, most organizations asked for an increase in funding. Two exceptions were Weston County Health Services and the Weston County Children’s Center, which both asked for the same amount they received in the current budget.

Nobody requested less.

The specter of inflation reappeared during a discussion on replacing one of the Public Works Department’s lawn mowers. Supervisor Greg Stumpff remarked that one of the mowers is “pushing 18 years old” and is “starting to act up.”

He stated that the last mower purchased by the city, which was before the COVID pandemic, cost $14,000. The same model of mower, but new, is now being quoted at $24,000. The brand in question, Kubota, provided the lowest quote the last time, Stumpff said.

City department heads also expressed frustration over increased costs. Police Chief Derek Thompson said that he would like to chat with the city’s IT provider, along with City Clerk Stacy Haggerty and Stumpff. The hope is that the department heads might convince the provider to offer a more forgiving price for its services.

Moreover, Haggerty informed the council that the auditor the city does business with is charging more and that City Attorney Dublin Hughes may also be requesting an increase in pay.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the inflation rate for the present month is 3.5%. This is higher than the 2% target of the Federal Reserve, but is still appreciably shy of the relatively recent peak