Sneak Peek - June 26th, 2020

Council approves CID board, budget for next fiscal year

​After Lathrop’s eastward expansion to Interstate 35, the city is looking to help fund the sewer expansion that will follow.

The Lathrop City Council met in a special session meeting on Monday, June 15, to officially form the board of the community improvement district (CID) that will encompass the previously-approved voluntary annexation, which brought a swath of land north of 116 Highway and stretching past Interstate 35 into the city limits.

The five-member board will meet once yearly with a single primary function – to disburse sales tax revenues from the CID to fund the city’s sewer collection system expansion past the interstate and connecting with Trex Mart. The truck stop will be the only existing tax-paying business in the CID.

After its formation on Monday, the CID board met for the first time on Tuesday, June 16, and voted to file for an election proposing a one-percent sales tax within the CID (which includes only the annexation areas and not the previous city limits). Lathrop City Administrator Bob Burns said that the election would be held by mailed ballot, as only 12 landowners within the CID would vote on it. Those landowners would have two weeks to vote on the tax.

If approved, the one-percent sales tax would join with the city’s existing half-cent sales – which is already in effect within the annexation – to fund the collection system expansion.

The members of the CID board include Lathrop City Administrator Bob Burns, Lathrop Police Chief Dave Speiser, Lathrop Public Works Supervisor Dwight Adkison, Mike Shrewsbury, and Trex Mart owner and operator Lowell Hartell.

In the regular Lathrop City Council meeting on Tuesday, June 16, the council voted to approve the budget for Fiscal Year 2021, which will begin on July 1. Lathrop City Administrator Bob Burns said in a later interview that the city is expected to finish the 2020 fiscal year on June 30 in the black.

The city’s general revenue fund for the 2021 fiscal year was set at $1.239 million with $1.225 million in expected revenues. The general revenue fund will carry over $34,487 from 2020. The water budget has $650,000 in outlined expenditures against $641,000 in expected revenues, with a carryover of $220,000.

​The city’s sewer fund budget will be inflated this year due to ongoing construction to the collection system and major upgrades to the city’s wastewater treatment facility. The budget was set at $5.08 million in expenses and $5.22 million in revenues, which includes SRF loan funds and grant funds for the sewer.

With the COVID-19 pandemic pushing back the April election to earlier this month, the Lathrop City Council swore in two members for new terms – incumbent South Ward Alderman Donnie Quinn and newcomer North Ward Alderman Porter Hensen.

The council also made its yearly appointments. Quinn named the Mayor Pro Temp and was appointed to the zoning board. Bob Burns was appointed as the representative to Lathrop Area Chamber of Commerce and the Mo-Kan Regional Development Council. Resident Scott Haahr was appointed to the Board of Adjustment, Kendra Gagnon was appointed to the Commission on Human Rights, Julia Kistner and John Horn were appointed to the planning commission, and Michelle Eads, Troy Everly, Gabe Goad and Missy Jones were reappointed to the park board. Dave Speiser was reappointed to chair the annexation committee.

​The council approved the renewal of the city’s property and liability insurance with MoPERM at a rate increase of 1.7 percent. Also, after discussion, the council voted against a proposal to remove pit bulls from the city’s banned animals list. The motion was shot down 3-1, with Hensen, Quinn and Gerald Snodgrass voting against its removal from the list, while Coetta Whiteley voted for removal.