Stimulus funding and unfunded mandates will bring new faces to St. Joseph in the upcoming year.

Financial stress has forced many private businesses to cut their work forces in recent months, but the city of St. Joseph’s proposed budget sets a course for expansion.

The City Council and staff have emerged from two weeks of deliberations with a budget that will add seven employees to the city payroll, while a federal grant included in the stimulus package will pay for six new police officers. The grant would fund the officers’ salaries for three years, after which the city would assume the costs.

The idea of new workers is bad news for City Employees United.

Shawn Henderson, the group’s spokesman, is a St. Joseph firefighter who previously worked 22 years in the St. Joseph Police Department. Mr. Henderson led a discussion with city employees last month that focused on multiple issues where the group feels city management has neglected its current employees.

“How can the city pay salaries for 17 new employees and then say they can’t afford to give raises to the employees they already have? It doesn’t make sense,” Mr. Henderson said. “And the six new officers aren’t going anywhere. Who do you think will pay them when the grant money runs out?”

The proposed budget would have added 11 positions before council members asked for cuts — 17 including the officers from the grant.

Council members and staff agreed to eliminate four of the proposed positions. Further, an existing administrative technician position could be cut from the Public Health Fund budget.

City staff originally planned to add two positions at the health department, but eliminated both and decided to cut a filled position after Buchanan County commissioners decided to end the county’s $135,000 annual payment to the health department.

All but one of the new positions reside in the Public Works Department. Two plant maintenance mechanics, a laboratory analyst and a Capacity, Management, Operations and Management technician will fill jobs associated with upcoming sewer upgrades. The budget also includes two streets workers for alley maintenance who were hired last year but not included in the previous budget.

The seventh position will be added in the Police Department, where a part-time clerk position is shifting to full-time.

During the two weeks of meetings, council members were unanimous in their stance against adding new employees.

“I hate to add new employees when we can’t take care of the ones we have, but it sounds like we don’t have a choice,” Mayor Ken Shearin said. “It’s just more of that unfunded mandate from the federal government.”

The city’s budget will exceed $130 million in 2010, up from $110 million in the previous fiscal year. The increase will come from the sale of $45 million in bonds related to the city’s Combined Sewer Overflow Long Term Control Plan.

The council will hear the first reading of the budget ordinance June 1 and will vote on the budget June 15.

Clinton Thomas can be reached

at clintonthomas@npgco.com.