BROOKINGS – Brookings city councilors voted 7-0 this week to approve the city’s 2018 budget.

City Manager Jeff Weldon says it’s balanced with a general fund of $23.5 million.

“For 2018, the budget is up only $475,694, or 2.05 percent, over 2017,” Weldon wrote in his budget message to the Council last month. “A contingency fund of $225,000 is included for emergencies and unanticipated expenditures the Council desires to make over the course of the year.”

The 2018 budget includes a last-minute increase in the city’s subsidy to the Brookings Area Chamber of Commerce by $30,000, per the Council’s request, for a special initiative to replace Downtown Brookings Inc. The Chamber plans to dissolve and restructure DBI as a formal Chamber committee instead of it being an independent organization.

The city plans to add a patrol officer next year, bringing its full-time workforce up to 139. But Weldon said in his budget message that more maintenance personnel will be needed soon as the city keeps adding more subdivisions and parks.

“With each passing year, we have more streets in new subdivisions, which means more streets to plow snow, deposit salt and sand, seal-coat, fill potholes, fix curbs and gutters, and pick up garbage, recyclables, and yard waste. Likewise, with each passing year, we acquire more parks and greenspace and extend trails,” Weldon wrote.

Contact Jill Fier at jfier@brookingsregister.com.