By JAN McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
The good news is Bowling Green’s $234,488,447 city budget for next year is strong enough to continue municipal services that city residents have come to expect. Buoyed by growth in income tax revenue and investment interest, the city is in a position to continue current initiatives and investments in the community.
Municipal Administrator Lori Tretter shared the 2025 budget proposal with City Council members on Thursday evening.
But there are some worrisome signs ahead.
Pressure on the city’s capital improvement fund has been a continuing challenge for many years. And in 2025, the city’s capacity to adequately invest in capital items threatens to impact operational effectiveness, Tretter said.
“Most mitigation strategies are included in the 2025 budget but may not be sustainable in the long term,” the budget executive summary stated.
The city is facing ongoing costs for technology that are significant but necessary.
While there are no plans to reduce any city services, the demands for core services are growing, Tretter said.
“We are seeing increasing calls in our safety area,” for police, fire and EMS services.
The juggling act must involve supporting current core services, while supporting efforts for future growth.
“Bowling Green is a growing community and there are numerous opportunities for community enhancement currently developing and forthcoming,” the budget summary stated. “The balance of upkeep of current assets and positioning for future growth has been rigorously considered in the development of this budget.”
Tretter stressed the city’s “prudent fiscal management.”
“This is a really strong, solid financial plan for the city of Bowling Green,” she said.
While “no alarms are being sounded,” city officials do need to have discussions.
“We have really been focusing on building maintenance in the city,” Tretter said, noting the increasing demands on the capital items fund. “Simply put, this fund is a challenge.”
Following are some primary points mentioned during the budget presentation Thursday evening.
2024 accomplishments
- City workforce is stabilizing, with the city having more than 300 employees.
- Cybersecurity and technology investments.
- Completed American Rescue Plan Act funding, including third year of housing program; third year of residential street paving, ADA ramp upgrades, catch basin and curb repairs on Pearl and Sand Ridge Road; and outside funding distributed to non-profit organizations.
- Exterior housing maintenance code.
- Draft Climate Action Plan submitted.
- Safety facility study ongoing.
- Complete Streets progress.
2025 budget assumptions
- Funding to maintain existing levels of services.
- Union contract provisions negotiated this year with five city unions.
- Insurance increases, both for employee health care and property/liability.
- Increasing investment and cost of technology.
- Balancing ongoing and forthcoming initiatives.
- Pressures from deferred maintenance on facilities and infrastructure, capital expenses.
2025 budget considerations
- Safety facilities. The city is studying the need for a new fire station and major renovations of the police station.
- Strategy to address capital needs.
- South Main Street project.
- Economic development.
- Neighborhood revitalization.
- Subdivision regulations updates.
- Pedestrian/bicycle infrastructure, including shared use paths, pedestrian crossings, and Safe Routes to School efforts.
- Sustainability efforts.
- Quality of life, quality of “place.”
Parks & Recreation
The balance in the parks and recreation fund is dipping below the targeted balance for next year, meaning it’s something the city should “keep an eye on,” Tretter said.
It’s a balancing act, she explained.
“Funding a parks and recreation department, we try to keep things affordable,” yet keep up with maintenance and other expenses, she said.
Streets and sidewalks
Work continues on South Main Street from Ordway to the corporation limit, on shared use paths and sidewalks. Notable upcoming paving work in 2026-27 includes the Brim Road shared use path, and Brim Road from Poe to Bishop Road paving and roundabout construction.
Capital improvements
This fund is a “big concern,” with the proposed balance for 2025 dropping below the targeted fund balance, Tretter said. “That’s concerning in a capital improvement fund.”
Capital items that made the funded list for next year include:
- Community Center HVAC.
- Equipment, including Lifepak monitors, MARCS radios, and two mowers.
- Technology equipment, including disaster recovery project, phone system, in car and body worn camera system, and paperless case file management.
- Vehicles, including ongoing operating leases, fire truck capital leases, ambulance, equipment for three cruisers, single-axle dump truck, and van bucket for urban forestry.
- Debt payments for the community center and city building.
Capital items that didn’t make the cut and will go unfunded next year include:
- Improvements including IT space remodel, server room halon gas system, Wintergarden parking lot expansion, police building window replacement, feasibility study for truck wash, kitchen remodel for public works, roof replacement for public works.
- Equipment such as confined space equipment, thermal imagers, tool utility vehicle, and three UTVS (utility task vehicles for parks and for public works, plus IT facilities and grounds software.
- Vehicles including an ambulance and a tandem axle truck for public works.
Mayor Mike Aspacher said the budget proposal is a long-term plan for the city’s long-term needs.
“This budget is a vehicle for us to invest in the people and programs,” the mayor said, referring to the 2024 budget as “evidence that Bowling Green is a growing community. I’m optimistic for the future of our community growing in 2025.”
The budget ordinance will be introduced to City Council at its Dec. 2 meeting, with a vote to be taken on the budget at the Dec. 16 council meeting.
