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The Troy City Council approved a $36.5 million budget for the 2022 fiscal year.

The upcoming budget was an increase of about $3.8 million from the 2021 fiscal year. Councilmember Stephanie Baker noted that the budget was historically the largest budget the city had worked with. Troy Mayor Jason Reeves said the budget would serve the city well in the coming year.

“This budget provides us with some of our wants and all of our needs,” Reeves said. “It funds several projects, pay increases and takes care of all of the services we provide to the citizens of the community. But, the budget is still flexible and conservative, so if things continue to go as well as they have been, we have some things built into the budget we can take on.”

The budget included a 2.5 percent cost of living raise for employees as well as a 2.5 percent increase for step-wages. Reeves said the budget also included some changes to benefits for public services and environmental services employees as well.

Councilmember Greg Meeks asked Reeves how the city was fairing with tax revenue in relation to the budget.

“We’ve had tremendous growth the last couple of years,” Reeves said. “It appears it is trending in that direction again. For the budget last year, we projected $7.2 million in sales taxes. This year, we’re likely to hit $9 million. A lot of factors contributed to this. We certainly we have great businesses and they have done very well and some of the policies the council has enacted have begun to bear fruit and we’re continuing to budget conservatively. We’re doing well right now.”

The council also approved the application for a Recreation Trails Program grant for Hubert Maddox Washington Park. If the grant is funded, the city would have to match 20 percent of the funding. The application called for walking and biking trails as well as additional parking space, picnic tables and bench seating.

The council also approved a service agreement for GIS software that would allow the utilities department to have system access for all employees and a service agreement for the future consolidated E-911 call center that will be located in the Pike County Judicial Complex, which is currently under construction.