It looks like Festus will get a splash pad and all-inclusive playground.
The Festus City Council voted unanimously Monday to approve a $40,093,191 budget that includes funding for the splash pad and playground to be built at the Larry G. Crites Memorial Park.
The new budget, which runs from Oct. 1 through Sept. 30, 2024, includes employee pay raises and other projects.
The fiscal year 2024 budget dwarfs the fiscal year 2023 budget of $32,306,472.
City Administrator Greg Camp said the hike in the budget is primarily due to the capital projects included in it.
Camp said Festus leaders felt the city’s growth warrants the expenditures on the extra park amenities and other capital projects.
“What it comes down to is the mayor and the council want to push this community forward and recognize as we grow we need to make these sorts investments,” Camp said.
The new budget projects Festus bringing in $33,435,328 in revenue, for a $6,657,863 deficit.
Stephanie Cunningham, the city’s finance director, said the city will use reserve funds to cover the deficit.
“The city remains in good financial shape,” said Cunningham, who is leaving her job on Oct. 4 for a corporate job.
The 2024 budget also includes raises between 5 percent and 8 percent for all of the city’s 100 full-time employees, Camp said.
“They are cost-of-living raises depending on pay classification,” he said. “Basically, anyone making less than $50,000 will get an 8 percent raise. Everyone else is getting 5 percent.”
Cunningham said the raises, along with accompanying benefits, will cost an additional $904,000.
The new budget also provides for hiring three additional firefighters, as well as new employees for the Public Works Department.
Below are some of the significant items included in the budget.
■ $1.5 million to build the splash pad, often called a water play area, and an all-inclusive playground, meaning youngsters of all capabilities may use the equipment, which will be constructed next to the ballfields in the southern section of Crites Park.
“We’ll put out an RFQ (request for quote/qualifications) next week,” Camp said. “We’re looking for it to go into the area next to the Animal Control Building. There’s an old work shed that will need to be demolished.”
He said city officials don’t yet know when the splash pad and playground will be completed.
■ $500,000 to overhaul the Jim & Michelle Berger Pickleball Courts at Cathy Jokerst Memorial Park. The project calls for the six existing pickleball courts to be demolished and eight new ones to be constructed.
“The existing ones will be demolished and covered over (with the new ones), like we did with the tennis courts at Sunset Park,” Camp said. “There will be LED lighting to replace the old lights. There will be new fencing and other improvements.”
Jim Berger said the replacement of the pickleball courts underscores how popular the game has become in the area.
“Those courts are used all the time,” he said. “We get 500 people a week using them.”
During the renovations, Berger said, there will be a period when no pickleball courts will be available at Jokerst Park, but new ones are expected to be ready for play in spring 2024.
■ $600,000 to renovate the Red Barn at Crites Park. The building previously was used for recreational activities, such as senior lunches, but it currently is used just for storage because of structural concerns.
■ $700,000 for water system improvements around the city, particularly around Edgewood Lane, where residents have complained about discolored water. Camp said the discoloration is due to old pipelines, but the water is fine to use.
“The $700,000 is to get busy on the Edgewood water and to address other water issues in town,” he said.
Mayor Sam Richards was absent from the meeting on Monday, so Ward 3 Councilman Bobby Venz, the mayor pro tem, ran it.