City Council approves budget

BENTONVILLE — The city will add to its Fire Department staff in the 2020 budget.

The City Council unanimously approved the budget Tuesday night. The budget includes adding 14 firefighters. The city also will add two police officers.

Mayor Stephanie Orman emphasized public safety in a letter she sent to the City Council during the budget process.

“With a growing city, properly staffing our police and fire departments should be a high priority,” Orman wrote.

The city has 96 employees at the Fire Department and 115 at the Police Department, said Debbie Griffin, city community relations and economic development director.

The city added 12 firefighters this year. They will go to Fire Station No. 7 when it opens later this year or early next year, Deputy Chief Kevin Boydston said. Fire Station No. 7 is at 4508 S.W.

Prime Ave., which is south of Walmart Distribution Center 7842 on Arkansas 12.

The 14 firefighters added next year will be be split into three groups and work at two stations, Boydston said.

The Fire Department is on track to surpass 7,000 calls this year, Boydston said. Emergency calls totaled 6,800 in 2018 and 6,300 in 2017, Boydston said. Emergency medical service calls make up 77 percent of the Fire Department runs, he said. Average response times are 5 minutes and 20 seconds for emergency medical service, and 6 minutes and 30 seconds for fire, Boydston said. The fire response time should be trimmed when Station No. 7 opens, he said.

The 2020 budget shows $48.1 million in revenue and $49.5 million in expenses. Other general fund financing sources include $250,000 in impact/capacity fees and $1.6 million from reserve, according to city documents.

The impact fee money will go to pay for a Parks and Recreation Department project, and the $1.6 million from reserve will be used to replace three pieces of Fire Department equipment, to add a play structure at Lake Bella Vista and for improvement to Old Tiger Stadium, according to city documents.

The city is projected to have a net of $540,189.

The proposed budget also includes a 1.6% costof-living adjustment and a 1.4% merit raise for city employees, according to city documents.

The 2020 budget also address infrastructure needs as the street overlay budget was doubled from $350,000 to $700,000, said Jake Harper,

“It was needed and is a step in the right direction,”

— Jake Harper, director of Finance and Administration

director of Finance and Administration.

“It was needed and is a step in the right direction,” he said of bulking up the overlay money.

The budget process, which started in July, went well, Harper said.

“There were some good discussions about it,” he said. “We detailed out more information in the budget. We presented it in a way that was very open. It was a smooth budget.”