“Last year and this year both have been very heavy on the capital project front,” Centerville Finance Director Tyler Roark said. “I would say (2022) is more of an aggressive capital budget.
“We have a little bit more known. Revenue with COVID was a little uncertain a year ago,” he added. “Not that we’re out of the woods yet. But we know more on the revenue side than we did a year ago.”
The budget approved by Centerville City Council this week includes a $33.7 million general fund that will help pay for several capital projects, in addition to supplementing other departments, city officials said.
The Uptown plan’s Phase I ($6.4 million), and renovations at Stubbs Park ($3.79 million) and The Golf Club at Yankee Trace ($3.1 million) are high on the list of Centerville’s “very key, important projects” for the coming year, Roark said.
About $4.1 million is earmarked for street and sidewalk repair, with about 27 miles of roads planned for work, City Manager Wayne Davis said.
That includes $1.2 million for asphalt surfacing and about $1.7 million on work that includes Clyo Road, South Main Street (Ohio 48), Alex Bell Road, West Franklin Street and Whipp Road, records show.
Some road projects are being done jointly with county or state jurisdictions, according to the budget.
“A lot of times we have to match up our resources with the state’s resources,” Davis said. “It’s really a scheduling priority more than the financial outlay.”
This year income tax collections have been “very strong” and are up 11% year to date, with figures for the entire year expected just below that, Roark said.
Next year’s projections are at about $22 million, a 6.2% hike, with property and gas taxes expected to bring in about $3.3 million combined, Roark said.
The 2022 budget also has $2.49 million in revenue from the COVID-19 American Rescue Plan Act funds.
Centerville received the first half of those funds in August, with the remainder expected next year, officials said. They have not been designated for a specific use but the city may use them for public safety payroll expenses, according to the budget.
The budget projects a reserve of all funds by the end of 2022 to total about $33 million, Roark said.
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