In the first of what may be several work sessions, the Rapid City Council began discussion of the city's proposed 2009 budget on Monday by asking questions and getting additional details from eight groups seeking funds next year.

Last month, Mayor Alan Hanks proposed a $44.96 million 2009 general fund budget, which is about a quarter-million less than the 2008 budget due to delaying equipment purchases citywide next year. Including enterprise funds such as water and sewer, the city's overall budget for 2009 is roughly $130 million.

Council president Deb Hadcock said Monday was essentially a time for the council to ask questions. Future meetings will be devoted to discussion of whether - and how - budget requests will be filled.

"Basically, we're going to see what we want to fund, or not fund," Hadcock said. "We wanted to know a little bit more."

Some of the groups seeking additional funding or explaining their funding requests included Black Hills Vision, the Dahl Arts Center, Rapid City Economic Development Partnership and Destination Rapid City. The council made no decisions Monday about any of the presentations.

Black Hills Vision, a regional economic development organization, urged the council to continue to maintain a $75,000 funding level next year, the fifth year of a five-year annual pledge the city made. The group has been heavily involved in efforts to save Ellsworth Air Force Base, implement the Black Hills business incubator, the air service task force and development of a West River technology corridor as part of landing the Homestake lab project.

The Dahl, whose expansion project is 95 percent complete, proposed a budget of $246,575 next year. However, the mayor proposes $177,613, which is actually a cut from this year. In defending the request, executive director Linda Anderson said the arts council has consistently said since starting the project that the larger building would require more operating funds from the city.

Representatives of the economic development partnership urged the city to put $50,000 back in the budget for them, restoring the group's $225,000 request, an amount that has stayed the same for a number of years.

Pat Tlustos, partnership chairman, said the loss of $50,000 would mean a restructuring of staff and would likely make it a challenge to attract quality applicants to fill the president's position when Bob DeMersseman retires at the end of the year.

"This is a classic case of you're going to get what you pay for," he said.

The mayor's budget includes an additional $100,000 for Destination Rapid City, a newly formed nonprofit corporation spearheading downtown revitalization efforts. John Brewer, president of the group, said the city's contribution is essentially seed money for the organization to get off the ground and will be used to leverage sponsorships, grants and build membership over the first year.

Brewer said the organization eventually hopes to create a downtown business improvement district as a funding source to create some revitalization goals, such as an Omaha Street pedestrian bridge and a downtown plaza.

The council will meet again this morning to start wrangling with additions and subtractions to the budget. One of the topics may be a debate about whether to take the maximum property tax increase allowed under state law, an amount that would result in about $337,000 next year.

Each year, municipalities are allowed to increase property taxes by 3 percent or by the consumer price index, whichever is lower. The mayor's proposed budget did not include the additional money, although Hanks is recommending the city should take it this year.

The city must approve its final budget by Oct. 1.

Contact Scott Aust at 394-8415 or scott.aust@rapidcityjournal.com