The Wright City Board of Aldermen last week voted to approve a $2.9 million operating budget for 2020, alongside a plan for about $8.5 million in infrastructure projects over the next few years.

The city’s annual budget for next year  includes  $1.3 million for the Wright City Police Department, $491,00 for public works, and $806,000 for general staff and expenses, among a variety of other costs.

Those operating costs will be partly covered by about $2.3 million in anticipated revenue in 2020, according to budget documents. The rest of the funding will be taken from money the city has in reserve.

“We’re still operating at a little bit of a deficit, but we’ve cut that deficit down from where it was a year ago,” said City Administrator Jim Schuchmann.

The city saw a jump in several areas of the budget beginning last year, when several additional staff members were hired. Wright City added multiple police and administrative positions in 2019, including the job of city administrator.

Significantly more funding has also been directed toward public works projects, using the proceeds from the sale of the city’s water and sewer utilities in 2018.

Schuchmann said spending from that pool of money accounts for much of the city’s deficit.

Major projects ahead

Wright City’s 2020 budget also outlines how the city plans to spend the $10.5 million it received from selling ownership of its water and sewer utilities in 2018. Road improvements and a new, 62-acre park were key commitments to how that funding would be spent.

City officials said the projects now outlined in the budget are their major priorities over the next five years.

Wright City has $2.5 million earmarked for three major road construction projects. $500,000 is budgeted for replacing part of East South First Street near the city’s industrial park, a project that is already in progress. 

$1 million is planned to eventually widen Bell Road. Another $1 million is set aside for rebuilding part of Westwoods Road, a project Schuchmann said is past due.

“(Westwoods) has been needing repair. In past budgets, we didn’t have enough money to tackle it the way it needs to be done,” Schuchmann explained. The road has deep ruts and steep drop-offs around curves, which he said reconstruction will address.

The largest single allocation of the city’s capital funds is for a project that might not happen anytime soon. $2.5 million is set aside to help build entrance and exit ramps for Interstate 70 at Stracks Church Road. For that project to ever happen, Schuchmann said the Missouri Department of Transportation would have to get on board.

“The $2.5 million is not the total cost of the project. That would be our  (20 percent) match. What we would be hoping is MoDOT would pick up 80 percent of the project ($10 million),” Schuchmann explained. 

Mayor Dan Rowden said the money allocated to major projects won’t necessarily be spent this year, and could change in the future.

“We’re starting a process of trying to do more long-range planning so that we’re spending the funds of the community in a wise manner,” Rowden said. “But we also recognize that we promised the citizens, when we sold the water and sewer system, that we were going to address infrastructure issues. That’s where you see a lot of that money going.”

Other big-budget projects on Wright City’s to-do list:

• $250,000 for a new sidewalk along the North Service Road in front of United Church of Christ.

• $1.5 million for engineering and construction of a 62-acre park at Westwoods Road and Wilcat Drive. This number could come down with grants or donations.

• $500,000 for renovation and expansion of police headquarters within the former Wright City hall.

• $1 million to build a new public works shed.

• $100,000 to renovate restrooms at Diekroeger and Ruge parks.

• $30,000 to replace the playground at Ruge Park, which has already been done.

• $100,000 for city storm sirens.