(June 6, 2023) -- The Sikeston City Council approved the budget for Fiscal Year 2024 Monday night.

The budget provides significant investments in infrastructure that support job creation and housing construction, continues the replacement process for Fire Station 2, and provides employee salary adjustments to maintain competitiveness in a tough labor market.

The budget includes a $2,000 across the board wage adjustment for all employees and increases the maximum merit-based raise from $1,550 to $2,050 and increases clothing allowances by $50 per year to help with inflationary cost increases.

The budget also adds a new position to the city workforce, a full-time grant writer/administrator, while also shifting the Department of Public Safety Patrol Division from a five-day, eight-hour schedule to a four day, 10-hour schedule.

The budget also includes over $4 million in Capital Improvements paid for from the ½ cent Capital Improvement Sales Tax, which went into effect April 1, 2016.

The FY24 budget also contains $50,000 to be used as matching funds for a DRA grant application for the development of a new comprehensive plan, which is valuable to the community for numerous reasons, outlined in the budget.

Also, in the budget is $20,000 for the lease of a grapple truck to help clean up dumping on LCRA and other nuisance lots and $20,000 to establish a new bulky drop off program. The details of the bulky item drop off program are not settled but the goal is to make it easier for Sikeston residents to dispose of items such as furniture, mattresses, tires, etc.

The City of Sikeston also received $3,233,210.22 in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds that must be obligated by the end of 2024 and spent by the end of 2026. The budget identifies how those funds have been and will be spent, including stormwater projects, fire apparatus replacement, Rail Trail and council meeting broadcasting equipment.

“While there are many unmet needs and improvements we would still like to address, the expenditures planned in this budget enhance the City’s ability to serve our citizens, address many capital needs, and will benefit the quality of life and economic vitality of our community,” said Sikeston City Manager Jonathan Douglass.

The budget can be found at the City of Sikeston’s website at: Financial & Annual Reports (sikeston.org)