City commission approves budget, purchase of land
Published 9:04 am Friday, June 26, 2020
The Danville City Commission approved the second reading of the fiscal year 2020-2021 budget Monday evening.
The first reading of the budget was approved on June 8 following several budget workshops as the commission ironed out a budget that will need to be flexible moving forward due to a lot of uncertainty from COVID-19.
In total, the budget, which includes total resources amounting to more than $15.4 million, provides a little more than $77,000 in funding for 17 outside agencies. When requests for funding were made, 20 agencies requested more than $275,000 in funding from the city.
The outside agencies receiving funding include $5,000 for child development, $3,400 for family services, $26,000 for the senior citizens center, $200 for Veterans Day Appreciation, $10,500 for the Brass Band Festival, $400 for the nursing home ombudsman, $300 for the Sister Cities program, $100 for Bluegrass Community Action, $440 for Pioneer School of Drama, $600 for CASA, $1,100 for New Hope Food Pantry, $100 for West T. Hill Theater and Centro Latino, $500 for Boyle/Mercer Helping Hands, $400 for Grace Cafe, $25,000 for Heart of Danville, and $3,000 for Shepherd’s House.
Along with many of those outside agencies, the proposed budget also provides $50,000 for Planning and Zoning, while providing $70,000 for the Economic Development Partnership. Planning and Zoning initially requested $75,000 and EDP initially requested $100,000. Both of those entities requested the same amounts that they were budgeted for by the city in fiscal year 2020.
The commission also approved the purchase of property Monday evening after returning from executive session. The land was described by City Attorney Stephen Dexter as a narrow strip of land between Orange Leaf and the site of the central fire station that is under construction.
The strip of land includes a concrete wall that will be demolished and removed as part of the fire station construction.
The city unanimously agreed to the purchase of the land for $10,500.