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Aside from the ones the city is already committed to, there are not many large-scale projects residents will see progress on this year.

Based on the city’s financial forecast — a byproduct of cuts in state funding to the tune of about $100,000 — City Administrator Jeff Cantrell said Louisburg has been just holding on, but many of the projects initially thought to be slated for this year will have to wait.

Among those is planned street reconstruction in Louisburg’s Cedar Run area, hiring an additional full-time police officer and improving sidewalks throughout the city.

Improvements to the streets in Cedar Run were initially part of the second phase of the city’s plan for street reconstruction throughout the community. The streets in the older part of Louisburg were reconstructed last summer with the intention of doing the same to those in northern Louisburg in summer 2009, but the funding just isn’t there, Cantrell said.

“Based on the total cost of that project and the decline in revenues, it’s just not feasible for the city,” Cantrell said.

Reconstruction is estimated to cost about $600,000.

First on the list, however, is reconstructing North Elm Street, which is in even further disrepair, at a cost of about $250,000, Cantrell said.

“If we knock North Elm out, we will be aligned to take on Cedar Run,” he said.

“We hope that conventional revenue streams will return, and when they do, this will remain a priority,” Cantrell said.

When Louisburg City Council members met March 9 in a special work session to discuss upcoming projects, discussion also centered around how the city can find new funding sources to make up for lost state aid. Among the suggestions was increasing the city’s sales tax.

Louisburg’s sales tax is currently 7.5 percent — 5.3 percent from the state, 1.5 percent from the county and 1 percent from the city, half of which helps fund the pool and half goes to the general fund, Finance Director Sue Seuferling said.

Seuferling said the city has the option of assessing up to 3 percent on sales tax with a 2 percent maximum for the general fund and 1 percent maximum for special projects.

“The council wanted additional discussion and investigation to study the impacts an additional sales tax would impose,” Cantrell said.

Though a sales tax increase may be possible, council members made it clear that raising the mill levy was not an option.

“A sales tax increase would be a softer blow to homeowners where a further mill levy increase would otherwise be required,” Cantrell said.

One option the city has been utilizing to deal with additional revenue shortfalls in the current budget year is the planning director position vacated by Bill Schrandt in November.

Schrandt retired from his position, and because growth in Louisburg has been so stagnant for the past year, Cantrell said the city opted not to fill the position until additional growth necessitates an additional staff person.
“The absence of that position allows us to compensate for other budget shortfalls,” Cantrell said.

Because the school district, in coping with budget shortfalls of its own, decided not to fund the school resource officer position in the future.

“With that, we’ll put an additional officer back on the street that’s already familiar with the city and also has the certifications,” Cantrell said.

Projects that did receive the green light at the work session were mostly small in nature and included completing the shelter house and purchasing play equipment for use at Ron Weers Park, several sewer improvements and purchasing a new public works truck. Also, the city is committed to the stoplight project on West Amity Street (Kansas Highway 68).

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