LINN —  At a special meeting on Monday, Sept. 28, Linn aldermen approved Schaeffer Electric to install new receptacles, upgrade existing units, and remove unused receptacles for up to $11,875 so Christmas lights can be hung on 20 electric poles.

City Treasurer Jeanna Monroe-Lansford initially advised aldermen that there was not enough money in the general fund to repair and replace the receptacles. The city had set aside $4,200 for Christmas decorations from sales of ATV/UTV licenses over the past several years, but that left $7,675 that had not been included in the 2026-27 budget.

“You asked me to look into money that has the freedom to be used to replace the receptacles for the Christmas lights, knowing that we can only pull from the general fund, and things are tight right now until we start getting property tax money in,” Monroe-Lansford said. “We didn’t budget for the receptacles.”

Monroe-Lansford added that the city would not be receiving sales tax revenues from the new areas that had been annexed until January 2027.

“I thought we had assets of over $1 million in unrestricted funds from 2024,” said Alderman Bill Turner, referring to the 2024 audit that had been sent out to the aldermen for review.

“We have a cash balance of $1.9 million, but that does not belong to the general fund,” Monroe-Lansford explained. “The general fund only has $306,000.”

Monroe-Lansford noted that she was avoiding making the necessary transfers to the park fund and the general improvement fund so that the city could continue to cover employee salaries and other expenses.

“We can’t use the cash balance at all?” Turner asked.

“You can, but you budgeted the majority of that money already,” Monroe-Lansford said.

“We can’t amend the budget?” Turner asked.

“You can, if you want to take the money from something else,” Monroe-Lansford said.

“I don’t understand how we can have a million dollars, and we can’t use it,” Turner said. “In our budget meetings, we are always told we have an excess amount of money “

Monroe-Lansford explained that, according to the financial statements and budgets she is reviewing for 2024-25 and 2025-26, the city has had to reach into the reserves by over $600,000 in the last several years. “That is money that has been taken out of the general fund because we were budgeting to spend more money than we were bringing in,” she said. “That cushion has been used quite a bit.”

Turner made a motion that the aldermen and mayor not be paid their salary for the next four and a half months so that the money could be used for the receptacles. The motion died for lack of a second.

“I would second it, but I’m not going to do that because some of the people here budget for that money,” said Alderman Steve Boeckmann.

“I think we should budget for this next year,” Alderman Dustin Flamm said.

Mayor Mike Troesser asked if, in the long run, it would make more sense for the city to purchase solar Christmas lights and avoid upgrading the receptacles.

“That would cost $1,000 a pole for solar decorations,” Turner said. “The receptacles would still need to be removed at a cost to the city, and we would need a new bid for that.”

Turner repeated that he thought that the city had an excess amount of funds.

“In the budget as a whole, yes, but not in the general fund,” Monroe-Lansford said.

Turner asked Monroe-Lansford to look at the 2023-24 audit she had forwarded to aldermen to review.

“Go get the audit and explain it to me,” Turner said. “I guess I don’t have enough knowledge about accounting.”

Monroe-Lansford agreed that the 2023-24 audit showed the unrestricted funds to which Turner had referred.

“That would have been as of April 30, 2024,” Monroe-Lansford said. “I know the auditor has adjustments. I’m going by what we have in the system right now. I’m not sure what his adjustments will be.”

“If we’ve lost $2 million in the last two years and we don’t know where it went, that’s pretty substantial,” Turner said.

Monroe-Lansford referred to the records that she has that show that the city went over budget for the last several years.

“So, we are going to be strapped for cash this year?” Turner asked.

“We may have a little left over in the general fund, but it will be small,” Monroe-Lansford said.

Turner noted that Monroe-Lansford has not accounted for any extra property and sales tax that may come in from the newly annexed areas of the city.

“I am just looking at what we have now,” Monroe-Lansford said.

City Clerk Carrie Grellner noted that the general fund would be receiving an additional $7,300 from the recent sale of the Linn Police Department’s 2018 Charger.

“That money goes back to the general fund,” Monroe Lansford said. “We weren’t expecting that money.”

“We’re still $300 short,” Troesser said.

Monroe-Lansford insisted that she could find an additional $300 in the budget to complete the project.

In other business, aldermen tabled any street projects until next year, noting the high cost of fuel and asphalt.

“If you still want to do a street project, you can,” said Bartlett & West Engineer Steve Jackson. “I’m going to recommend that you don’t because you are going to pay a big premium right now. What is happening right now is that hauling rates are way up, and that is based on the fuel prices. You would pay a big premium right now to put something out to bid. That is just the economics of where we are at.”

Jackson also noted that the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) is anticipating fewer construction projects for 2027.

“You may get more contractors,” Jackson said. “I’m not saying that you will, but it is possible. Prices should be going down on things, and with prices going up right now, the contractor is going to bid that risk into their prices.”

Jackson recommended that aldermen try to be ready to put the street projects out for bid by February or March of 2027.

“I don’t have a crystal ball,” Jackson said. “I don’t know what is going to happen in the world.”

Aldermen plan to continue to look at what streets need repairs and compile a list by December so that Bartlett & West can put them out for bid in February 2027.

• Aldermen approved a bid for $15,775 from B & P Patterson Concrete and Construction to replace the culvert on Ninth Street and make necessary repairs to the street. The city requested bids and advertised in the Unterrified Democrat and only received one estimate.

• The next meeting will be held on Monday, Oct. 19, at 5:30 p.m.