Clerk of Council Michele Newbanks, left, conducts the second reading of an ordinance banning camping on city property Thursday night during a Marietta City Council meeting, while Council President Susan Vessels, right, listens. (Photo by Michelle Dillon)

Marietta City Council conducted the first reading of two budget-related ordinances and sewer rates for 2025 and the second reading of the city’s camping ban Thursday.

Ordinance No. 130 (24-25) makes appropriations for expenses for fiscal year 2025 for the city, including $332,235 for council; $187,431 for mayor; $335,175 for auditor; $73,005 for auditor; $657,037 for law director; $11,981 for civil service; $91,230 for development; $659,208 for miscellaneous: $334,907 for information systems; $123,435 for safety administration; $275,650 for property and maintenance; $4,301,650 for police; $3,041,430 for fire; $118,995 for service administration; $383,825 for engineering; $1,239,265 for lands, buildings and parks; $126,790 for equipment maintenance; $211,890 for utility maintenance; and $200,000 for health department.

This totals expenses of $12,705,200 for the general fund.

No further action was taken on the ordinance, which also included the amounts to be appropriated for the 2025 budget from several other funds.

Council also conducted the first reading of Ordinance No. 131 (24-25), which made appropriations for the Marietta Municipal Court’s budget. The court’s budget was separated out with its own ordinance at the recommendation of Ward 1 Councilman Michael Scales after a disagreement between court staff, council and the city’s finance director during a Nov. 13 Finance Committee meeting about whether the numbers used for the court’s expenses in the preliminary 2025 budget documents were based on correct information.

The ordinance states $1,138,371 will be appropriated from the general fund to the court. The ordinance also lists appropriations from other funds for the court. No further action was taken on the ordinance.

Scales thanked the mayor, city auditor, treasurer, safety service director, law director and director of budget and finance for their work on the budget.

“We had constraints this year, and everybody in that group has worked within those constraints, and it has been very difficult, very hard,” Scales said. “Decisions had to be made, and I’m sure more decisions have to be made down the road.”

Scales said his goal is to have budget legislation packaged and ready to go after meetings on Dec. 2 and 5 so it can be taken care of after Christmas.

Council conducted the first reading of Ordinance No. 125 (24-25) to set the city sewer rates for 2025 to $5.06 for the base unit rate per 100 cubic feet, an administrative charge of $23.55, a surcharge of $0.86 per pound for biochemical oxygen demand and a surcharge of $0.54 per pound for suspended solids and a debt service rate of $2.54 per 100 cubic feet. The charges would total $23.55 per bill plus $7.60 per 100 cubic feet. According to the ordinance, the minimum bi-monthly sewer bill for usage not exceeding 500 cubic feet would be $61.55. No further action was taken on the ordinance.

Council conducted the second reading of Ordinance No. 105 (24-25), which bans camping on city property except in authorized areas. The ordinance would make unauthorized encampments a fourth-degree misdemeanor and repeat offenses a third-degree misdemeanor, with the penalty being decided by the court. No further action was taken on the ordinance.

Council conducted the first readings of multiple ordinances related to reimbursements of cost allocations for indirect costs to the general and other funds, with no further action taken.

Council conducted the first reading of Ordinance No. 126 (24-25) to allow the safety service director to enter into an agreement with McKay Lodge Fine Arts Conservation LLC for the creation of a bronze replica of the Memorial to the Start Westward of the United States, also known as the Start Westward Monument, and to move the original sandstone monument to a different location to protect it from further damage. No further action was taken.

Council conducted the first reading of ordinances authorizing the safety service director to advertise for bids for the sale of two vacant lots on Third Street for a minimum bid of $70,000; 308 Putnam St. with no minimum bid set yet; and 333 Franklin St., which used to be Marietta Fire Department’s Station 2, with a minimum bid of $75,000, respectively. No further action was taken on the ordinances.

The next Marietta City Council meeting is 7:30 p.m. Dec. 5 in Room 10 of the Marietta Armory.

Michelle Dillon can be reached at mdillon@newsandsentinel.com