Dec 12, 2020 2 min read

By Katie Anderson

Staff writer

kanderson@observer-reporter.com

Washington City Council on Thursday adopted a final 2021 budget, which is balanced at $14,731,621 and does not include a tax increase.

When council approved a preliminary budget last month, it wasn’t quite balanced. Deputy finance officer Susan Koehler said the city used $125,000 of its anticipated 2020 carryover to balance the budget.

The 2021 budget is available for public view on the city’s website.

Director of finance Councilman Joe Manning thanked the city staff and department heads for working on the budget over the last few months. He has expressed on multiple occasions his concern about the impact that COVID-19 is likely to have on 2021 revenue, including mercantile and income taxes and parking revenue.

“We got through 2020, which was a pretty bizarre year,” Manning said Thursday. “We feel that we’ll be safe and, hopefully, get through 2021 as well.”

Council also approved a $1 million tax anticipation note for 2021 through Huntington Bank. Manning and Mayor Scott Putnam thanked Joe Miller, at Huntington, for working with the city to obtain an interest rate of 0.97%.

“That rate is not something I’ve seen this low,” Putnam said.

In other action Thursday, council agreed to extend the city’s COVID-19 response policy “until further notice,” which means agenda meetings are canceled and monthly meetings will take place virtually for now. Council also amended the policy to include specific definitions for the terms “isolation” and “quarantine.”