The total funds for the city for the next fiscal year add up to about $66.88 million, a 2.71 percent decrease from the previous year’s budget of $68.74 million.

This is in contrast to the change from the 2012 fiscal year budget to the 2013 fiscal year budget, in which the budget dropped by more than $9 million, resulting in the city seeing major spending cuts.

“It feels a lot better than in other years,” Mayor Diane Goddeeris said of the budget.

The city has faced financial hardships during the past decade with decreasing funding from the state and struggles from the declining housing market and 2008 recession.

City Manager George Lahanas said the 2014 budget and the service levels the city provides are similar to 2013 fiscal year budget.

“It doesn’t address all of our needs,” he said. “We wish we would have more money to spend on infrastructure.”

More information was asked by council for information on street funding for next week’s work session, which is centered on the water and sewage funds, street funds and the solid waste fund.

“One of the things we’ve discussed several times is the unmet need for infrastructure reinvestment,” Mayor Pro Tem Nathan Triplett said.

Triplett asked about information pertaining to the current state of the streets and sidewalks so the city could move forward with discussions.

Total street funding for both major and local streets for the 2014 fiscal year is $3,634,880, slightly more than one percent less than the previous year’s total of $3,674,211.

The water supply system for the city saw a more than two percent increase in its budget to more than $3.5 million, and the sewage funds saw about a 10 percent increase to more than $11 million in its budget.

The solid waste fund decreased its budget more than five percent to more than $1.2 million.

Councilmember Kevin Beard asked for information on street lighting throughout the city.

Students have said in the past more lighting should be invested into the city for safety concerns.

The city spends about $748,000 on street lighting, something Beard, although he understands the safety concerns, said needs to be cut down.

“I just want to make sure that the street lights we have (are) properly placed, right illumination, and we have a plan to replace these things. … Do we have a long range plan for moving to the new energy efficient technologies?” he said. “You’ve seen communities … simply turn off their street lights. Sure they’re gonna save money, but that’s not a good public safety step to take.”