Council prioritized its preferences in the following categories:
- Paving, including sidewalks and medians
- Recreation options
- City beautification, including code enforcement and abatement
- Improvement of neighborhoods and housing stock
- Economic and workforce development
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Some council members indicated a preference of spending between $475,000 and $900,000 in paving, including sidewalks and medians. Four council members, Mayor Larry Mulligan, Vice Mayor Talbott Moon and Councilmen Joe Mulligan and Steve Bohannon, said that paving was a high priority.
Councilwoman Ami Vitori put paving as a medium priority but placed recreation options and city beautification/code enforcement/abatement as high priorities.
In her comments, Vitori said city staff and administration has “done a phenomenal job” over the past five years.
“Going forward, as we have been able to right many of the upside down situations from years of neglect, I would like to think about the quality of life and providing opportunities for our residents and especially for our youth,” Vitori said. She believes with the land the city has available and with potential corporate sponsors and smart programming, the city could create a robust environment for our kids to have more positive surroundings, support, and outcomes.
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Other council members agreed that city beautification should be a high priority and suggested spending as much as $100,000.
Joe Mulligan suggested using funding to improve the entrance into Smith Park. He said he’d “love to see all or part of the ‘canal’ capped or filled as an actual water feature.”
He also suggested using in-house or contract labor to remove honeysuckle from the banks of the “canal” for a better first impression for visitors.
Larry Mulligan and Bohannon also ranked funding for housing stock/neighborhoods/proposed Oakland district as a high priority.
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Last month, city staff recommended using the additional discretionary revenues for local funding of the downtown plan implementation/OKI funded project in 2022, deferred maintenance that includes possible replacement of the city garage, funding for a dedicated traffic officer and for fire station design/land purchase, city marketing and improved transportation in 2021.
City Manager Doug Adkins will be discussing the budget priorities during his report at council’s Tuesday meeting.
Adkins recently reported that the city’s income tax revenues have climbed for the last five years, and are on pace for a sixth consecutive year of growth. He said this is the “strongest, healthiest” the city has been financially in his 12 years.
The income tax revenues have jumped from $19.9 million in 2013 to $24.9 million in 2018.
Middletown income tax revenues by year:
2013: $19,949,272
2014: $20,560,181
2015: $21,571,744
2016: $22,285,506
2017: $24,047,903
2018: $24,941,368
2019: Up $450,000 through June 2019 compared to June 2018.
SOURCE: City of Middletown
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