Monday night is your first opportunity to testify about Columbia city manager De’Carlon Seewood’s proposed $558-million budget. It calls for 31 new city positions and is an increase of $12-million from last year. Mr. Seewood tells reporters that his proposed budget emphasizes four main priorities:
“With the city’s budget we have several priorities, but we wanted to highlight a few. So those will be infrastructure, public safety, housing and social services. By funding these priorities, we support the goals outlined in our strategic plan and we support the city’s vision of being the best place for everyone to live, work, learn and play,” Mr. Seewood says.
Mr. Seewood is proposing $46-million for about 80 capital improvements, including $500,000 to replace an MKT trail bridge and $4.5 million for the Forum Boulevard project. Mr. Seewood is also proposing a pay raise for Columbia’s approximately 1,500 city employees: the pay raise averages three-point-five percent.
Mr. Seewood’s proposed budget also includes the creation of an affordable housing trust fund. The Columbia Board of Realtors says the average price of a home sold in Columbia in June was $355,000. Mr. Seewood tells reporters that the fund would provide important assistance to residents:
“It may be ability to help with a down payment assistance or help with, you know, rental assistance. And so it’s really creating a fund that can allow us to do additional programs and additional processes to actually help people get into houses and stay into housing,” Seewood tells reporters.
Mr. Seewood’s proposed budget includes $1.5 million for the affordable housing trust fund. Mr. Seewood’s proposed budget also emphasizes public safety: $68-million of the city’s general fund budget would go toward public safety. That’s 51 percent of the general fund budget.
Monday evening’s Columbia city council meeting begins at 7 at city hall.