South Central Reporter

Salem City Council approved an $18.2 million budget for the fiscal year starting May 1, which was a 4% increase over last year even with reduced revenue.

The City Council continues to hold its meetings via Zoom to respect social distancing and stay-at-home orders because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Grant funds and community donations offset the decreased revenue projection enough to increase the City of Salem’s fiscal year 2021 budget. The city projects a $73,000 cut in revenue compared to the current fiscal year, WJBD reported.

Salem budgeted $650,000 for grants funds for the new parking lot and construction of the inclusive playground in Bryan Memorial Park. The budgeted amount includes donations made by the community to construct the playground.

Salem City Manager Rex Barbee told the City Council he expects sales tax revenue to drop by $60,000 and video gaming tax proceeds to decrease by $13,000.

“We were anticipating revenues on the sales tax side of $20,000 a month so that’s three months’ worth of sales tax revenue that we reduced,” Barbee told WJBD. “The same thing with the budget on the gaming; I think that’s a 20-25% reduction in that.”

Barbee says the city will reduce the $75,000 set aside to convert the former Save-a-Lot building into a police station to offset the sales tax revenue loss. He said the video gaming fund’s surplus eliminates the need to make corresponding budget cuts. If revenues drop more, the city will look at other reductions, he said. The city has some fund reserves and is in good financial shape.

After raising budget concerns at the last City Council meeting, Councilman Nic Farley said he is comfortable with these reductions, and that city department heads will keep track of their spending.