Council freezes 2003 capital spending

The North Branch City Council voted Monday night to freeze hiring and some capital improvement expenditures for the 2003 budget year in hopes of saving money for the cityís taxpayers.
The council asked city staff from all departments that requested capital improvement money to review their plans and eliminate anything that is non-essential.
Some requests originally agreed to by the council included a GIS system for the planning department, computer system upgrades for City Hall, a new pickup truck, trailer and plow truck for the Public Works department and police radar units and police vehicle cameras.
Other expenditures that are being reviewed include park expenses and sidewalk repair or replacement.
In other council action:
The council agreed to approach the North Branch School Board to ask for a regular meeting at which council and board members would talk about what each is doing that may effect the other. The council also will invite the county commissioners from the North Branch area to quarterly meetings for the same type of meeting.
The council hopes that if communication improves, none of the entities will be surprised by another and project cost savings or partnerships could arise.
The council also sent an informational packet to the East Central Regional Development Commission asking for support in lobbying for federal funding for improvements to the Hwy. 95 bridge over I-35.
The commission said in a response letter that it supported the project.
Also, the council received information on the cost of snow and ice removal for winter 2002.
During the winter, the city spent a total of $47,764.48. The majority of the cost was in salt-sand purchase at $20,172. Equipment expenses were amortized over several years and came to $14,680.12 for 2002 and personnel expenses were $12,912.24.
The overall cost was down nearly $12,000 from $59,538.34 in 2001.
The Post Review was named official newspaper for the city.

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