Osage Beach Looking Forward To 2023 Following Budget Passage

Osage Beach City Administrator Jeanna Woods says with the recent passage of a balanced budget , city employees are in line for another pay increase in the coming year….

“We want to have the best rates, the best pay, best benefits. And so because of what’s happening in the economy and inflation and just competition, the board further increased pay rate increases for 2023. Last year, employees got an average of 10.2%.To accommodate some of that, we knew that would be a one to two year plan to meet with our budget. And this coming year, your average employee will get a little over 8%. Some will get a little more, some will get a little less, depending on where they’re at in their pay plan.”

City Administrator Jeanna Woods also notes that the first city board of alderman meeting will be held on Wednesday January 4^th – one day before it would normally be held…

“They approve the final budget for 2023,which starts here shortly on January 1. There’s a little over $12 million on some really exciting capital investment for our city. Our parks are going to get some new parking lots, new bathroom facilities. We’ve got some road projects. The big road project that was started over the last 18 months, but we will actually hopefully see construction. Things take time. And the Osage Beach parkway extension over by the Harley Davidson that area? That project has been in the works for a while. It’s a cost share with Missouri Department of Transportation. So that’s an exciting project, but a lot of new investment. Our board is very adamant that we keep investing in our community and we keep it very organized. We always have 5/10 year plan. And so exciting that some of these projects are financially being able to be made.”

Woods says a second-reading of a measure to put a cannabis tax before voters in April will likely be followed by a vote by the board at that session.

She spoke on Morning Magazine on NewsTalk KRMS