Brownsboro city elections canceled
By Nathan Straus News Reporter

It was official at the monthly Brownsboro City Council meeting Tuesday, April 10. The council decided to cancel the council elections set for May 10.

The candidates for the office, all with council positions, are Mary Carnahan, Glen Vest and Doug Shaffer. These candidates were unopposed and automatically elected to office.

Having no elections saves the city money by making hiring election overseers and renting machines irrelevant.

This might be a good thing as Brownsboro mayor Ronny Harris said at the meeting Brownsboro's economy is a little stagnant.

"We're going to need to be more careful with expenditures, " Harris said.

The monthly budget report for March revealed street re- pair to be at 98.2 percent, with an expenditure of $30,076.91 and a balance of $554.09. As a necessity, this item will likely go over the budget allotment of $30,631.

The budget report wasn't all bad news, however. The target score for each item was 75 percent, and though many had gone over, several were still under the score.

The new equipment fund, with an allotment of $40,000, has a remaining balance of $17,141.87. Just over half of this fund has been spent at this time.

The year's budget goes from July 1, 2007, to June 30, 2008.

In revenues, the city has received extra money from fines and fees, as well as extra from the miscellaneous category. Miscellaneous is at 155 percent, while fines and fees, with a budget of $124,950, is currently at a staggering $151,819.52.

Under the water and sewer budget report, though equipment repair is over the target, the repair and replacement fund is far under.

In another matter concerning city funds, the criteria for scoring grant applications for cities is being changed by the state. The new scoring factors are community distress, prior funding and population. Several smaller factors are part of these larger factors.

Grants can be requested to service a wide variety of activities, including parks, swimming pools, public utilities and facilities and code enforcement.

A motion was made to work with precinct three commissioner Ronny Lawrence on overlaying McKnight Street in Brownsboro. Harris said this street was the worst street in the city as far as the state of the street goes.

The overlay process could cost as much as $15,000.

The final point visited by the council was possible action on Oak-Pine estate located on Pine Oak Street. This estate is a mobile home addition.

A motion was made, but it died for lack of a second and no action was taken.

One issue possibly appearing in future meetings is a matter concerning light emitting diode billboards in the city. Unless the city takes action on this issue soon, LED signs could be placed in the city.