Alexander Mayor: The City of Alexander is in good financial standing

Alexander Mayor Crystal Herrmann provided a look at Alexander’s present and future in her annual State of the City address.

“The city of Alexander is in good financial standing and this administration has worked hard on transparency and reporting all accounts monthly,” Herrmann began. “So (I), appreciate the hard work that goes through that.”

Cleaning up the city is her next priority.

“We will continue to work on improvements in the department(s), but the one that stands out the most will be code enforcement and animal control this year,” Herrmann said. “It's really kind of building it from scratch.”

“I believe it's a good time for us to focus on what we have inside our city limits and the cleanliness,” Herrmann continued. “It will help our property values. I know there's been a lot of concerned citizens with a neighbor that might not be as clean... So, it will help our property value and the health and safety of the community.”

Herrmann sees education as the first step. “We are going to start with education and some outreach work. So, I guess the looking, we're going to start posting different ordinances that we do have for the permit process and encourage just getting the word out there... I'm just going to work with some different programs and see what we can publicize and just make the citizens aware of the different ordinances and such that we have.”

“It will be sometime before our city center is resolved (Human Development Center). And this is just a wonderful time for us to work on what we have in our city limits to make it great, to make it desirable,” she said. “So, as we work on this and we wait on the sewer (Saline County Water Works upgrades) to come through, then hopefully it's going to encourage new development and help set some examples and some guidelines... The baseline’s there, I think we can just do a little better.”

The “baseline” Herrmann referred to is Alexander’s natural assets.

“And we actually have a very beautiful natural city,” Herrmann said. “We have beautiful trees. We have a beautiful city. But on top of mountains, there's some beautiful views up there. But it gets taken, it gets less, you know, it's just a shame because if you have some a couple of places or a few residents that are not clean and they're not in itself, it's a health and safety hazard. You know, it just takes away from the beautiful things that we do have in our city to offer.”

Council Member Joe Pollard asked about a city-wide cleanup. Herrmann said she will be getting prices for dumpsters to bring to the council.

Alexander council meets Monday

Four items of interest are noted on the agenda for the March 16 council meeting. Two items under New Business include a resolution to publish the final 2025 Budget’s financial statement and an ordinance to sell two police cars. Also listed is a continuation of a discussion started at the February meeting concerning permits and the Mayor’s annual State of the City Address.

The Alexander City Council will hold its monthly meeting on Monday, March 16. The council meeting will begin at 6:00 PM in the courtroom at the Alexander Municipal Complex (City Hall) on Highway 111. The meeting is open to the public.

The IRS always wants their share

What started out as a way to provide low cost security for the former Alexander Human Development Center (HDC) property and give city employees a way to live in Alexander without a major cost to them, may be considered income by the Internal Revenue Service. The plan was first adopted when former Mayor Paul Mitchell was in office.

In 2022 the former HDC property was being vandalized after Pathfinders, Inc. moved to a new location outside Alexander. Pathfinders provided specialized services to those with physical and mental needs.

The cottages were used to house the patients. They are located in the southeast corner of the property along Highway 111.

With no one on the property at night, vandalism began to become an expensive problem. Mitchell decided it would be beneficial to allow city employees, who live outside Alexander, to live in the cottages in exchange for providing both security and keeping the grass mowed. At the time, no city employees lived in Alexander.

Those living in the cottages generally worked for either the street or police departments. This arrangement provided the extra advantage of having city employees nearby in case of emergencies.

In the past, City Attorney Chris Madison has expressed concerns that a low $100 per month will require the city to account for the remaining value of the rent as a fringe benefit on W2 forms. It will then be taxed by the IRS. Council members were told employees can be given two options.

1-They claim the fringe benefit at the end of the year on their W2.

2-The council sets a rent amount that is high enough to not require a fringe benefit report on W2s.

Madison told council members a fair market value needs to be established. Hiring someone to perform that task is the next step.

The other item under New Business at the Feb. 17 meeting;

The Alexander City Council adopted a resolution that finalized the dollar amounts on numerous line items in the 2025 budget. Below is a list of the estimated and actual revenue and expenses for 2025.

General Fund Budget

Estimated Revenue - $1,519,092.53

Actual Revenue -        $3,701,194.16

Estimated Expense - $1,612,131.53

Actual Expense -        $1,366,613.43

Street Department Budget

Estimated Revenue - $350,400.00

Actual Revenue -        $498,917.15

Estimated Expense - $323,200.00

Actual Expense -        $342,541.38

Parks Department Budget

Estimated Revenue - $297,800.00

Actual Revenue -        $228,518.21

Estimated Expense - $292,000.00

Actual Expense -        $154,752.58

Police Department Budget

Estimated Revenue - $1,061,730.00

Actual Revenue -        $912,943.65

Estimated Expense - $1,051,972.00

Actual Expense -        $911,659.65

Fire Department Budget

Estimated Revenue - $1,201,400.00

Actual Revenue -        $1,030,389.15

Estimated Expense - $1,195,900.43

Actual Expense -        $1,056,622.78

Payroll Fund Budget

Estimated Revenue - $2,235,517.00

Actual Revenue -        $1,794,595.00

Estimated Expense - $2,231,517.00

Actual Expense -        $1,765,111.86

In other news

Mayor Crystal Herrmann gave a brief report on the city’s permitting system. She noted there is no permit requirement for building a porch. Her fear is the porch will turn into a sun room with someone living in it.

Also, permits aren’t being posted. With the police department now taking over code enforcement, Herrmann wants the officers to be able to drive past a property and know any observed construction has been approved. With that in mind the mayor has proposed the city provide posting boxes to be used to display the permit on the property.

Next Meeting

The next meeting of the Alexander City Council is Monday, March 16, at 6:00 pm in the courtroom of the Alexander Municipal Complex (City Hall). Meetings are open to the public.