Williams City Council members could be looking at the needs of the city through more educated lenses in 2020.
City Administrator Frank Kennedy said the City Council would discuss accomplishments and goals of 2019 at their first meeting in January, before they move on to reviewing ordinances and fees.
But the City Council also agreed in December that part of their reeducation this year should include an extensive review of the citys finances and needs after they failed to garner unanimous support in November to put a sales tax measure before the voters in the March primary as an emergency.
” When we talk about emergencies, we should talk about how much debt the city has,” said Councilman John Troughton, at the councils last meeting in 2019.
Troughton said at the citys Dec. 11 meeting that he did not sleep the night, a month earlier, when three resolutions to put the tax measure before the voters as an emergency failed with just one dissenting vote. And as if Murphys Law of coincidence, often stated ” Anything that can go wrong will go wrong,” needed proving to the council, something did indeed go wrong.
Less that a month after the decision not to ask voters to consider increasing revenue options for the city, one of the citys primary wells failed to pump water, leaving the city with just two operational sources of potable water.
On Dec. 11, the city authorized $62,795, as an emergency, to repair the well, at the request of Mike Mitchell, water foreman.
” Emergencies are where things have to be done immediately,” Troughton reiterated.
While Williams officials said the city has a ” healthy” balance sheet to meet day-to-day functions of the government, the city lacks the means to deal with its infrastructure needs, including $12 million for new sewer lines, $11 million for new water lines, $25 million in road improvements, and $6 million in other capital improvements.
” It all adds up to about $50 million and someday thats going to all come crashing down on this town and the state is not going to help us,” Troughton said.
While city officials called not putting a tax increase before the voters in March ” a stumble,” they plan to reintroduce the ordinance before the November 2020 presidential election.
” We have some pressing needs in this city,” Kennedy said. ” We may not be able to open the city pool next year because it needs to be repaired. Were having a difficult time even finding someone that could repair it, and then where are we going to come up with the $300,000 to repair it? If we dont open the pool, we are going to have some very disappointed citizens and kids in the city.
Councilman Robert Mendoza, the lone dissent, said he stood behind his decision not to approve the sales tax measure because he feared a sales tax increase would harm small businesses that are already facing increasing costs of doing business.
” The minimum wage is going up and small businesses have to raise prices to meet the demand of an increase,” Mendoza said. ” With an increase in the sales tax, they have to increase (prices) a little more. They are already cutting down on employees because the minimum wage affects how much they are already going to charge for their product.
While officials estimate that as much as 75 percent of the increase in sales tax revenue would be generated by gasoline sales along Interstate 5, Mendoza argued that a sales tax increase would also effect the residents of Williams.
” We are consumers,” Mendoza said. ” You cant say its just outsiders that come in and buy all our stuff. We live here and we buy stuff here, too. We buy gas and all that, so its not just outsiders. There are a lot of small businesses here that rely on keeping prices reasonable so people buy here instead of going somewhere else.
The City Council agreed that more discussion would be needed in 2020 but that the decision to increase the sales tax should ultimately be decided by the voters, who would also have to be educated on infrastructure costs and the financial needs of the city.
” Its not just the council members that have to be informed but we have to inform all the community,” Councilman Jauregui said. ” We have to get them more involved and they need to get involved.” Ï…