Expenditures
• The proposed General Fund budget of $65.8M is $1.1M lower than the FY 2024 Revised Budget.
Health insurance and other employee benefits are budgeted in the General Government &
Allocations division, along with General Fund transfers to other funds and a contingency of $1M.
Excluding that division, the proposed budget for General Fund departments total $307K more than
the FY 2024 Revised Budget, an increase of 0.7%. General Government services have increased by
$829K (13%).
• In the Hotel/Motel Fund, proposed expenditures of $2.44M represent an 7.7% increase over the FY24
revised budget. The increase is mostly attributed to higher required payments related to Hotel/Motel
Tax collection.
• Expenditures in the Water/Sewer Fund are projected to increase $1.7M (8.1%) compared to the FY
2024 Revised Budget. This is due primarily to larger transfers to the General Fund and for Water/Sewer
capital projects, along with increases for the wholesale purchase of water. The wholesale purchase of
water is the largest line item at $12.12M (54% of fund total).
Personnel
• Three new firefighters are recommended for the Fire Response division. The Smyrna Fire Department
has seen a 12% increase in call volume over the past four years. The Department has a gap in its
response capabilities for these calls, creating a need for new firefighters. The new positions will
shorten response times and increase overall efficiency for the Fire Department.
• In the Recycling division, three new employees are recommended to create a new recycling route.
The new crew will consist of two crew worker positions and one truck driver. The positions will
maintain a high service quality and improve efficiency as participation in the recycling program
continues to grow.
• In all, department heads requested 16 new full-time positions and one new part-time position, of
which six full-time positions are recommended. The total budgeted impact of the new positions for FY
2025 is about $195K.
• 15 reclassifications of existing positions were requested, eight of which are recommended.
Reclassifications are justified for various reasons, including changing job responsibilities, adapting to
current needs of departments, and correcting grades for recent changes in departmental structures.
The total budget impact for reclassifications is -$10K. The negative budget impact is a result of
downgrading the assistant city engineer position to an engineering plans reviewer.
• Merit raises totaling $432K are set aside in General, Hotel/Motel, E-911, and Water/Sewer funds
contingencies. Annual merit raises have historically ranged from 0% to 3.5% based on each
employee’s annual performance review. Funds for cost-of-living adjustments (COLA) totaling $598K
are also included in this year’s budget. FY 2023 was the first year of COLA raises, allowing the City to
keep salaries equal to inflation. Beginning this year, the COLA is being capped at 3% with the
possibility to be lower, depending on inflation. Adoption of this budget does not guarantee these
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