City to Pay Off Millennium Park Debt, Add Jobs in FY 2014

Creve Coeur will pay off the debt it owes for Millennium Park, add two new full-time employees to its staff, and increase city employee salaries by 3.2 percent overall in the 2014 fiscal year.

These are some highlights of the city’s more than $15.4 million budget, passed by the City Council on Monday night.

It’s a 5.3 percent increase in spending, compared to last year’s budget, while the city expects to generate nearly $1 million more revenue than it will pay out over the next year.

Concern about the small margin, between revenue and expenditures, was brought to the council’s attention by a letter from the city’s finance committee, which suggested the council reconsider paying off its debt earlier than required.

“I really think that in order to have a fiscally responsible budget, you pay off your debts and resist the temptation to use that money for other projects,” council member Ellen Lawrence said in response to the finance committee’s suggestion.

The budget allocated $2.6 million to pay off the remaining debt the city owes for Millennium Park.

Residents also raised concern about Creve Coeur’s increased personnel costs budgeted for the next year.

“Our personnel costs are budgeted to increase 5.3 percent over this next year,” City Administrator Mark Perkins said. “This includes all our benefits, all of our health insurance, pension costs, et cetera. That’s not just salaries.”

The increased personnel costs also include two new full-time positions on the city’s staff, Perkins said. One position changes a part-time position to a full-time employee, and the second is a police officer that would be assigned to the St. Louis County Drug Task Force.

Perkins did explain that the personnel costs include a 3.2 average salary increase overall for the city employees, “in line with other local government entities,” and which is based off a performance system.