Ex McCookite may help with study of band shell

Council member Colleen Grant told the McCook City Council at its regular meeting Monday night that a former McCookite, who wishes to stay anonymous, has offered to make a contribution to the feasibility study scheduled for the band shell.

The city has included $6,000 in next year's budget for this study, which will evaluate the costs of renovating the structure or building a replica.

Council member Grant did not disclose an exact amount of the contribution.

The band shell was built during World War I and is showing signs of its age, according to city staff. Kyle Potthoff, Public Works Director, told the council at a previous council meeting that it has major structural damage due to termites, water damage and other signs of disrepair.

Councilman Aaron Kircher said he believed that the feasibility study is a good idea.

"It certainly won't hurt us," he said, adding that he'd like to see the anonymous donation as an agenda item at a future council meeting.

City Manager Kurt Fritsch reminded the council that the 2008-09 budget, approved by the council on its third and final hearing Monday night, also includes the idea from Mayor Dennis Berry to use $87,000 from Ace natural gas revenue sharing and Keno proceeds toward band shell renovation.

Although this may not be enough to fix the building, there is still roughly $350,000 left uncommitted from city sales tax revenue, Fritsch added.

The 2008-09 budget the council approved contained several amendments, including:

* The additional $20,000 the city will receive in property taxes, due to increased valuations, from $900,000 to $923,558

* Demolition for houses was reduced from $25,000 to $12,500, with the extra amount applied toward the ending balance. According to City Manager Kurt Fritsch, the city didn't spent much in demolition last year, except for what was used in the Red Horse demolition. Anything that is not used in this line item will be moved over into the next year.

* the repair and maintenance budget in the Streets Department was reduced by $68,704 and carried forward to the ending balance. This was done as the parking lot repair scheduled at Felling Field will not be done next year because of the ongoing construction at Peace Lutheran Church. The church owns the parking lot and will pay a portion of the construction costs with the city.

* The $15,000 that was projected for a city administrative staff vehicle was removed and replaced with $5,044 for a car allowance for City Manager Kurt Fritsch. City administrative staff will use the city vehicle that was provided to Fritsch.

* $150,000 in city sales tax revenue was included in the budget for sewer debt buy-down

* revenue and expenditures pages were added to reflect the Safe Route to Schools grant that the city and school have applied for but have not yet received. The grant, that will finance curb cuts and flashing signs, was written for slightly less than $100,000.

* $75,000 was moved from reserve to water/sewer for half of the National Guard sewer line installation

* budgets from water and sewer were revised to reflect the report from Public Financial Management, the company that estimates revenues and expenditures for those departments

In response to a question by Councilman Kircher, Fritsch said that the McCook Library Foundation has decided not to contribute this year to the installation costs of an elevator at the city library.