With a decrease in the amount of grant money coming into the city, the Greenville City Council passed an $11,802,887.57 general fund budget for the 2005-2006 fiscal year, which is a five percent decrease from last year's budget.

&#8221We don't have the same projects going on in this upcoming year which brought in a lot of grant money,“ Greenville Mayor Dexter McLendon said in Monday night's meeting. &#8221The Greenville Airport project is finished, for example, and that was a lot of grant money that is now already in place.“

According to McLendon, even though this year's budget was in large part determined by past history, the recent hurricanes have had a lot to do with certain numbers.

For example, the 2005-2006 salary budget for the Greenville Police Department is down two percent, while overtime pay for the GPD is up forty percent.

&#8221We had to use the overtime hours in manpower during the hurricanes,“ McLendon said. &#8221So, that is an important factor.“

The 2005-2006 salary budget for the Greenville Fire Dept. is up 4.9 percent, and there is an increase in the overtime pay as well.

However, in the Greenville Sanitation Dept., there is a three-percent decrease in the salary budget for the new fiscal year. McLendon said that the city focuses on what each individual department needs for the upcoming year.

&#8221We might have a person retiring this upcoming year, for example,“ he said, &#8221and this can cause the numbers to be up or down.“

In the Greenville Horticulture Dept., there is a 28 percent increase in the salary budget for the new fiscal year. The mayor said that with all of the baseball fields the city has, someone would probably be hired for the upkeep.

Also, there is a two percent cost-of-living raise for city employees that is in place for each consecutive year.

&#8221It's a good and balanced budget,“ McLendon said. &#8221I want to thank all of the department heads for working with me on it, and for being good stewards of the money.“

In other business, the council voted to approve the purchase of five standard personal computers and one laptop computer for the Greenville Police Dept. from MTI, or Montgomery Technology, Inc. The total cost will be $49,100, with payments of $1,300 for 38 months on a three-year contract. MTI will provide information technology (IT) services for networking, maintenance, and support of the GPD computer systems for the next three years.

The council also approved a $4,669.10 expenditure to the Northeast Alabama Law Enforcement Academy for police academy registration fees for Jason Crenshaw, Lionel Davidson, Allen Grimes, and Jennifer Marie Thomason.

$2,530 was approved for the South Central Alabama Development Commission for the city's annual dues for 2005-2006.

$1,402.50 was approved for ADAPCO for Malathion for the Public Works Department's mosquito control program.

$1,420 was approved for Stephens Concrete for twenty yards of concrete to refurbish the sidewalks in Confederate Park. Also, Skipper Construction will receive $1,800 for the labor to lay and finish the new sidewalks in Confederate Park.

Halloween trick-or-treat will be observed on Monday, Oct. 31, from 6 to 8 p.m.

The next regular city council meeting will be held at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 24.