At Tuesday night’s Pine Bluff City Council meeting, several budget adjustments were approved. They are as follows:
Animal Control was approved for a budget adjustment of $2,000 to be moved from its dog food fund to place $500 in its office supplies fund and $1,500 into operating expenses.
A budget adjustment request by the mayor’s office to distribute $99,412.22 in grant funds from the Youth Engagement in Sports (YES) Grant to the Pine Bluff Aquatic Center for equipment and supplies and for salary, travel and training expenses, and equipment and supplies for youth recreational leaders was approved.
An Airport Commission request for $13,455 in reserve insurance payments from the 2018 hailstorm claims to complete repairs to a hangar that sustained wind damage in April during a round of severe storms was approved.
A budget adjustment of $305,373 in Federal Transit Administration grant funding was approved for Pine Bluff Transit for the purchase of two medium cutaway buses, two paratransit vans, cameras, radios, GPS units, software and paint.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
In other business, nine resolutions on the agenda for consideration were passed:
A resolution authorizing Mayor Shirley Washington to execute an agreement with Liberty Utilities for installation of a fire hydrant at 27th Avenue and Laurel Street for $10,198.38. The resolution is sponsored by Ward 4 Alderman Bruce Lockett.
A resolution authorizing the mayor to execute an agreement with AT&T for telephone, communications and internet services and equipment for the city for a term of three years. The resolution is sponsored by Washington.
Two resolutions accepting covid-19 Emergency Solutions Grant funds in the amount of $794,782 and $41,903 from the Arkansas Department of Human Services to pay for rapid re-housing and homelessness prevention for people who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless during the covid-19 pandemic. Both resolutions are sponsored by Ward 3 Alderman Donald Hatchett.
A resolution accepting funds in the amount of $411,412 from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development office of Community Planning and Development Fiscal Year 2020 Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act Formula Grant that have been awarded to the city of Pine Bluff. The resolution, sponsored by Hatchett, does not specify how the funds are to be spent.
Four resolutions sponsored by Ward 4 Alderman Steven Mays setting millage rates for taxes on real and personal property in the city of Pine Bluff, setting the overall millage rate at 11.6 mills per dollar of assessed value. The individual millage rates to be set per resolution are; 1 mill for the Firemen’s Relief and Pension Fund, 1 mill for the Policemen’s Relief and Pension Fund, 4.6 mills for operation and maintenance of the Pine Bluff Public Library, and 5 mills for General Purposes.