Owen City Council Approves 2020 Budget
Tuesday, December 3rd, 2019 -- 8:39 AM
-The Owen City Council held the public hearing for the city budget at their meeting last week.The city’s general budget came to $1,073,195, the Owen Water budget came to $542,748 and the Owen Sewer budget came to $635,750. During this time, they heard a presentation on the purchase of remote water readers. The Water Utilities budget included the amount of $65,100 for the purchase of Remote Water Readers. A presentation on how the remote readers worked and the numerous advantages to using them; such as constant monitoring of water usage, actual reads monthly and time saved in both the reading and recording of meter reads, was given. The council then approved the budget. The council also heard the Owen-Withee Police Commission Report. It was stated the Wisconsin Retirement funds for the officers need to be paid separately by each municipality, but the money would be coming from the police fund.
WRS payments would start with the December payroll. The police are also looking for a new squad to replace the Crown Vic. The chief is also looking to hire two more part time officers, not to exceed the budget and this will allow him more options in scheduling. Finally, the police, along with the Commission, will also be looking into purchasing a drug dog. During the public opinion portion of the meeting, a resident had several comments ranging from people not paying their fair share for water, to the City Clerk wages increasing $10,000, (which isn’t accurate according to the city), to overpaying Bowmar Appraisal, to funding being pulled from the city.
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