6-23-10 —     Monticello City Council met in regular session on Monday evening and  approved the budget for fiscal year 2010-11. The general fund budget  

totals $1,865,955 and is very similar to the one the city is  

operating under for the current fiscal year.

    This budget includes no wage increases for employees. The city will  

pay higher health insurance premiums for the next year, since the  

cost has increased by approximately 14 percent.

    Appropriations in the general fund include: general administration,  

$351,165; police department, $752,118; street department, $234,945;  

fire department, $245,368; and 911 dispatching, $120,000.

    The budget also includes a large amount of funding in capital  

projects. The city has received approximately $24 million in grant  

and loan funds for projects that range from upgrades at the water  

treatment plant to a scattered housing project.

    In other action during Monday's meeting, the council approved a  

resolution authorizing the fire department's application for funding  

through the Kentucky Office of Homeland Security. If approved, the  

funding would be used to upgrade communications for the department.

    The council also agreed to declare several pieces of rescue  

equipment, previously used by the fire department, as surplus  

property. The Monticello Fire Department recently received an Aid to  

Firefighters Grant that allowed them to upgrade the aging rescue  

equipment.

    Monticello Mayor Kenneth Catron told council members that the work   on the concrete wall, which has been constructed on South Main  

Street, should be completed soon. He said crews are set to sand the  

wall and finish it in the coming weeks.

    He also told council members that the city had received word that a  

$1 million scattered housing grant had received approval through the  

Department of Local Government.