The City of Danville would create seven new jobs; give all employees raises; increase funding for parks and paving; and undertake a bevy of capital improvement projects — all without raising taxes, under a draft 2018-19 budget presented Thursday night.

Funding for community agencies would take a hit. And the Heart of Danville Main Street program would lose $37,500 in funding, while the Economic Development Partnership would gain $37,500 in direct funding, according to a summary of the budget prepared by Danville City Manager Ron Scott.

The budget was not voted on Thursday night; the meeting simply provided an opportunity for Scott to go over the highlights with the city commission.

The general fund and utility fund balances would be substantially lower by the end of the fiscal year. The general fund would fall from a projected beginning balance of about $9.15 million on July 1, 2018, to a projected ending balance of a little more than $6 million on June 30, 2019.

In his summary, Scott attributed the decrease to numerous capital improvements and upgrade projects, including spending $640,000 to complete the city’s public works garage; $451,000 for upgraded fire equipment; $258,600 for upgrades to parks and trails; and $500,000 for an upgrade to the city’s accounting software that will improve utility billing.

Another major plan within the budget is the building of a new downtown fire station, with an estimated price tag of $9.5 million. Danville is borrowing money to make that project happen.

The city’s utility fund would similarly see a lower ending balance. Danville expects the utility fund to have a balance of $5.05 million at the end of this fiscal year; the balance would be just $624,416 on June 30, 2019, under the proposed budget.

The city would tackle a number of capital improvement projects within the utility fund as well, including a waterline upgrade project for Corporate Drive, beginning upgrades at the sewer plant and completing an energy efficiency upgrade project.

All of the capital projects planned inside the utility fund will require Danville to borrow an estimated $6 million, according to Scott’s summary.

New positions

The proposed budget would create six new jobs paid for through the general fund and one new job in the utility fund. Those jobs are:

• Utility engineer: Scott said he would like to promote City Engineer Earl Coffey to the newly created position of utility engineer, which would oversee the city’s increasingly regional water and sewer services.

• Utility administrative assistant: This would be a new position underneath the utility engineer position.

• Human resources director: Scott said this position would take over human-resources duties currently handled by the city clerk for Danville’s employees, which would total 152 full-time and additional part-time positions under the proposed budget.

• IT technician: The proposed budget would establish information technology as a full department within the city, and the current IT manager would be promoted to IT director; a technician position would be added within the new department.

• 911 dispatcher: The budget would increase the number of full-time dispatcher positions at Danville’s call center from 12 to 13.

• Public works employee: One position would be added at the city’s public works garage.

• Water treatment plant employee: The utility fund would cover the cost of adding one employee at the recently upgraded water treatment facility.

The budget would also provide for 2-percent cost-of-living raises and 1-percent merit raises for all employees except the city manager position. Scott said his compensation would be determined by an evaluation from the city commission later in the year.

Funding for other organizations

The budget would fully fund requests from the Danville-Boyle County Senior Citizens Center for $66,500 and the Danville-Boyle County Airport Board for $15,000. Danville would also continue to contribute $145,000 to the Economic Development Partnership and the Heart of Danville, but the ratio would be different than in past years.

This year, Danville gave the EDP $145,000, and the EDP passed on $110,000 of that to the Heart. Under the proposed budget, Danville would give funds directly to the EDP and the Heart, splitting the $145,000 evenly — $72,500 to each organization.

That would result in the EDP having $37,500 more to spend from Danville, and the Heart of Danville having $37,500 less.

Community agencies that received funding from Danville this year would all continue to receive funding next year, but at half the amount, according to Scott’s summary.

Parks & Recreation would receive a small boost from $238,000 to $240,000; and Danville would also provide $50,000 for capital improvement projects at Millennium Park.

(See a complete list of proposed funding for community and partner agencies at the bottom of this report.)

Capital improvements

The budget includes funding for a large number of capital improvements and other projects, including:

• $358,600 for additional parks capital improvements not included in the funding for Parks & Rec — $88,600 for a trail to Henson Pond; $75,000 for a neighborhood park in the Henson Pond area; $25,000 to install a gazebo at Millennium Park; $100,000 to help complete the new park in front of the water treatment plant; and $120,000 to help complete a new mountain bike trail.

• $50,000 to begin installing new wayfinding signs once the current wayfinding study is complete.

• $65,000 to finish replacing the Second Street bridge over Clark’s Run ($135,000 is expected to be spent this fiscal year).

• $250,000 to help complete a “streetscape” improvement project between Fourth and Fifth streets on Main Street.

• $384,265 for street and sidewalk improvements between Third and Fourth streets on Main Street (which could be augmented by a $900,000+ streetscape grant).

• $81,000 in new funding for cemetery improvements, including an increased budget for landscaping and flowers, new security cameras, upgrades at Bellevue Cemetery and paving.

SO YOU KNOW

The proposed budget also recommends 50-percent increases to the salaries of Danville’s elected officials. Visit amnews.com to read yesterday’s story about those proposed increases.

COMMUNITY AND PARTNER FUNDING

The proposed budget recommends cutting funding for most community agencies by half next fiscal year. The Danville-Boyle County Senior Citizens Center funding would not be cut. Listed below are the community and partner agencies funded this year, their current funding level and what they would receive next year under the proposed budget:

Community agencies

Arts Commission of Danville/Boyle — $900 this year ($450 next year)

Big Brothers Big Sisters — $3,500 ($1,750)

Bluegrass Community Action — $1,500 ($750)

Boyle-Mercer Helping Hands — $5,000 ($2,500)

CASA of the Bluegrass — $4,500 ($2,250)

Centro Latino de Danville/Boyle — $2,700 ($1,350)

Citizens Concerned for Human Relations — $800 ($400)

Community Arts Center — $4,200 ($2,100)

Danville-Boyle County Senior Citizens Center — $66,500 ($66,500)

Sister Cities Commission — $2,700 ($1,350)

Family Services Association — $13,000 ($6,500)

Grace Café — $5,000 ($2,500)

Great American Brass Band Festival — $30,000 ($15,000)

Heritage Hospice — $600 ($300)

KyADAPT — $2,000 ($1,000)

Nursing Home Ombudsman — $2,000 ($1,000)

New Hope Food Pantry — $5,000 ($2,500)

Pioneer Playhouse — $2,700 ($1,350)

West T. Hill Community Theatre — $1,000 ($500)

Wilderness Trace Child Development Center — $21,600 ($10,800)

Partner agencies

Danville-Boyle County Airport Board — $25,000 ($15,000)

Economic Development Partnership — $35,000 ($72,500)

Heart of Danville — $110,000 ($72,500)

Danville-Boyle County Parks and Recreation — $238,000 ($240,000)

Danville-Boyle County Planning and Zoning — $75,000 ($75,000)