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Davenport Aldermen Begin Work on New Budget

WVIK News

Nearly three months before the deadline, the Davenport City Council will begin working on next year's budget. Saturday aldermen will hold the first of three, Saturday workshops with city staff.

Assistant City Administrator Mallory Merritt says aldermen on Saturday will set goals for the coming year, next week they'll discuss a proposed operating budget, followed by a third session on capital improvements.

She says city staff has worked hard to make the budget stable.

"Particularly in the general fund, the sewer fund, road use tax, local option sales tax, and to right-size our bonding. I think this budget continues all of those goals that are leading to surpluses year over year that have been recognized by our bonding agency."

Mayor Mike Matson says even before the pandemic began, Davenport was building up its reserves and spending very conservatively.

"Certainly our financial situation is assisted by some of those federal dollars, of course. But I want to make sure we understand that we were progressing in a manner that our policies set us up for success."

He says based on goals set by recent city councils, and surveys of Davenport residents, the main priorities for the new budget will be public safety and infrastructure.

Davenport, and other local governments in Iowa, are required to submit their budgets to the state by March 31st, for the fiscal year beginning in July.

A native of Detroit, Herb Trix began his radio career as a country-western disc jockey in Roswell, New Mexico (“KRSY, your superkicker in the Pecos Valley”), in 1978. After a stint at an oldies station in Topeka, Kansas (imagine getting paid to play “Louie Louie” and “Great Balls of Fire”), he wormed his way into news, first in Topeka, and then in Freeport Illinois. While a graduate student in the Public Affairs Reporting Program at the University of Illinois at Springfield (then known as Sangamon State University), he got his first taste of public radio, covering Illinois state government for WUIS. Here in the Quad Cities, Herb worked for WHBF Radio before coming to WVIK in 1987. Herb also produces the weekly public affairs feature Midwest Week – covering the news behind the news by interviewing reporters about the stories they cover.