City staff may have found a one-year, temporary way to keep performing historic preservation functions after budget cuts defunded a position in city hall that handled the duties of a historic preservation officer.
“Staff was asked to go back and see if there is a way to do this less expensively,” said Bob Myers, city manager. ”… the question was how much of a budget do we have to have … how much of a budget could we find to fund it.”
The answer was $50,000. That is the result of several open positions in the police department, leading to savings in the department. Those funds can be used for a housing incentive program, which in turn frees up $50,000 that can be used for historic preservation.
(Read more: Newton Kansan)