While the actual 2025 budget process for the City of Ellsworth is still several months out, city council members gathered Monday with department heads to discuss upcoming needs.

“We’re not going to solve the problems in a day,” City Administrator Dustin Stambaugh said. “The goal is not to overwhelm you, just let you know what we’re up against. The goal is to put solutions together.”

The overall theme of the evening was addressing capital needs — larger purchases or projects.

“The one thing I want to put in the open — paying for municipal equipment,” Golf Course Superintendent Patrick Hammel said. “Two years ago we cut mine in half and last year I gave up everything on my CIP (capital improvement projects). We will have equipment aging.”

Streets Foreman Troy Kralik said his equipment is also aging.

“In the past, there was a schedule worked out to rotate machinery,” he said. “You can’t hardly replace anything in my shop for $30,000; maybe a little mower. Everything is in the $100,000$200,000 range. The older, it costs more in maintenance.”

Kralik said the street department provides labor for many departments throughout the city.

“We have the brand new airport,” he said. “It takes twice the maintenance to mow.

“Most of the labor is coming out of my street department. We need more to work with if we’re going to continue to have those nice things.”

With money covering other projects, Kralik said it isn’t going into the streets.

“Some of the things are to the point major work will have to be done to the streets. You can’t put a Band-Aid on it forever,” he said. “Oil, rock has gone up. I’m trying to do the chip seal with money that’s probably been allotted the last 10 years. I have to cut back more streets, so less is getting done.”

A relatively new department is the Central Inspection Department.

“I’m on my first year of the general budget,” Building Inspector Delvin Bettenbrock said. “As far as the CIP, if we want to keep condemning houses, we’ll have to have a hammer to go through with it. We’ll need to come up with money somehow.”

Interim Police Chief Sgt. Jeffrey Weigel, discussed eight projects that need funding.

“The biggest and most expensive is the patrol vehicle rotation,” he said.

Additional needs include new body cameras, replacement vehicle cameras, new Tasers, a copier and additional ammo for practice and body armor.

The department’s needs could range from $98,500-$108,000.

Fire Chief Ralph Doubrava was absent, but Stambaugh said the department needs to replace bunker gear. The department is also seeking a grant to help pay for a new truck.

The water department is looking at valve replacement, as well as a backup generator and replacing some equipment.

City Clerk Callie Haxton said City Hall has a myriad of needs.

“Ours is all structural,” she said. “We have a very worn down building full of old plumbing, old electrical. It will be a matter of figuring out what we want to fix and if we want to stay in our building.”

She said one of the more immediate concerns is the smell of sewer gas.

“We get physically ill from smelling (sewer gas),” Haxton said. “I would like to see it fixed urgently for the safety of everyone involved.”

Lack of consistent funding has been a struggle, Recreation Director Ron Tenbrink said.

“I get a little worried sometimes. We’ve been underfunded for so many years,” he said. “A lot of my major projects or improvements have come from private donations or grants.”

The Recreation Center received much-needed upgrades several years ago.

“The renovations to the rec center is by far the best thing we did. That place gets used more and more. There are things that still need to be done to it,” Tenbrink said. “It’s functional, but there could be some new windows, heating.”

Yet, he also said there is opportunity for his department to grow.

“We have a lot of people taking kids to Central Plains or Salina to do track,” Tenbrink said. “I told Katie (Cole) to ask if the rec department can offer a track club. That’s something that will happen next year. Why send our patrons out of town?” Another department with the opportunity to increase its revenue is the golf course.

Hammel said the objective is to increase fees at the course in 2025.

“The last time we did it was 2021,” he said.

No decisions were made Monday night. Stambaugh said the council can consider a variety of options to help cover the cost of the city’s needs.

“It doesn’t have to be just taxes or a special sales tax,” he said. “There’s a number of different mechanisms. You can do different methods without it being overly-painful to our citizens.

“From my perspective, I’m attempting to stop the bleeding, start maintaining and planning for the future.

“We can’t fix this stuff all at once. To continue to ignore it is not a good thing.”

The Ellsworth City Council will meet in regular session at 5:30 p.m. March 25 at City Hall.