By JESSA PEASE / Staff Writer

PELHAM— The City Council approved a budget of $61,384,182 for the 2016 fiscal year unanimously at the Sept. 21 meeting. This budget will go into effect Oct. 1 and is broken down into six categories.

“We’ve got some wonderful things going on, opportunities to partner with other municipalities, with the county, with the school system,” said City Council President Rick Hayes. “We’ve got many different things going on. Unfortunately, that means we have all these great opportunities, now we have to pick and choose what you can and what you cannot do.”

The city of Pelham has allocated about $41.2 million to its general fund, $3.5 million to the Pelham Civic Complex $1.2 million to the Pelham Racquet Club, $2.9 million to Ballantrae Golf Club, $6.6 to the Pelham Water Department and $6 million for the Pelham Sewer Department.

Some of the highlights from the budget include Phase 1 of the Greenways Trail Project, creation of the Pelham Recreation Center, Pelham City Park Master Plan and the architecture and planning for a new library.

The city has planned multiple road projects, including school related roadwork,

right-of-way acquisition for the County Road 261 widening project and continuous street paving projects.

Sewer projects include repairs and upgrades to sewer lift stations, water line relocation for the Bearden Road sidewalk project and the water tank painting project.

Money was also allocated for to replace the Pelham Fire Department’s fire engine and equipment and make repairs to Fire Station No. 1.

The City Council met in seven special sessions to discuss the budget. Mayor Gary Waters thanked the department heads, finance director Tom Seale and human resources director Janis Parks.

“As a document, it’s imperfect. There are things in it I like and there are things in it I don’t like,” Waters said. “The process is not perfect, that’s why it’s an imperfect document, but at the end of the day what you have in the final product, you have the embodiment of compromise.”

Hayes pointed out that the budget is also a living document. He said the council goes through the process, trying to nail everything down, attack issues and make contingencies for what may happen.

“We are extremely appreciative of all the department heads and everybody working together on everything that it took to get to this point,” Hayes said. “It has been a long effort, a complex effort and a difficult effort this year, but, as I said many times before, it’s been a difficult effort because we have a tremendous amount of opportunities in our city right now.”