Valley Grande had no problems passing its 2019 fiscal budget.

The council unanimously passed its budget at a city council meeting this week at Valley Grande City Hall.

Valley Grande’s total budget for next year is set at $791,370,00. It’s a slight increase from the total of $726,930,00 set in 2018.

Valley Grande Mayor Matt Dobbs thanked the council, Tammy Troha, Jimmy Johnson, Ronald Sawyer, Tim White and city clerk Janet Frasier, for their work on completing the budget.

“The council and I work well together and have the same ideas, we wanted to have a balanced budget,” Dobbs said.

Sales tax accounts for $500,000 of the budget. Other sales tax is totaled at $375,000. The Sellers Use Tax is at $70,000. Tobacco tax revenue is at $19,000. Other taxes are gas tax revenue ($11,500), consumer use tax ($11,000), rental tax ($8,000) and tag and titles ($5,700).

Valley Grande devotes $284,750.00 of its budget to public safety. Over $100,000 goes to the Dallas County Sherriff’s Office. They donate a combined $50,000 to the three volunteer fire departments in its area: $20,000 each to Valley Grande and Summerfield and $10,000 to Potters Station.

“We want to make sure we’re providing good services for the city,” Dobbs said. “Our greatest expenditure is public safety.”

Valley Grande does an outstanding job taking care of its employees, with $279,020.00 devoted to Administration. The payroll is set $91,170.00, $25,000 to health insurance and $6,000 allowed for retirement.

Valley Grande spends a combined $15,000 on two holiday city events, which are well-received by its residents.

They spend $10,000 on its annual Fourth of July celebration at Valley Grande City Park, mainly for the fireworks display. The new 100.9 ALEX-FM WALX will broadcast the event.

The other $5,000 is spent on Christmas in the Park program, usually held during the first week of December at Valley Grande City Park.