Cape city manager: Pay raises not only item left out of fiscal 2019 spending plan; council approves body-worn cameras purchase for police

Cape Girardeau city staff cut hundreds of thousands of dollars in initial funding requests for the fiscal 2019 budget, city manager Scott Meyer told the city council Monday.

Meyer said the decision not to provide a 2 percent or even a 1 percent pay raise for city staff was not the only funding request cut.

Initial funding requests totaled $680,000 above the available amount of revenue, he said.

Meyer said �a lot of things� were cut out of the budget, although he did not specify what else was left out of the spending plan.

The city manager said there was a lot of �give and take� in drawing up the $71 million spending plan.

Council members expressed concern last week about the city�s inability to give city employees a pay raise.

Ward 4 Councilman Robbie Guard again expressed disappointment about the lack of a pay raise at Monday�s study session.

�We have a tight budget,� he said.

But he said he is �happy� the proposed operating budget includes better retirement benefits, something council members and city staff have listed as a priority.

During a brief regular session, the council with little comment approved an agreement Monday to purchase about 50 body-worn cameras for the police department.

The three-year service agreement with Getac Video Solutions for police body-worn cameras will cost almost $152,000. A federal Justice Department grant will provide $27,000 toward the total cost, city officials said.

Cpl. Ryan Droege told the council the department expects to receive the cameras and begin using them within the next three months.

Droege said the software is easy to use and the system allows officers to download video to the internet �cloud� within minutes.

The department tested different cameras before deciding which system to buy, he said.

Droege said police officers �don�t always love change,� but that they are looking forward to using the cameras, which attach easily to officers� uniforms.

The entire study session and regular meeting combined lasted only an hour.

Under a new format, the council held its study session and regular session back to back with no break between the two sessions as was previously the case.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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