Riverside officials were at work this week adjusting the city’s proposed $1.2 million budget to include a pay raise for municipal employees.

Council members considered a total budget of $1,241,600 but postponed approving it until Sept. 27, hoping to offer employees cost of living raises of three or four percent.  The budget will primarily be funded by business license sales and property and sales taxes, according to Mayor Rusty Jessup.

The council is expected to approve a municipal reapportionment plan on Oct. 6.  Voting district lines have been redrawn to reflect population growth according to the 2010 Census.  Riverside has grown by as much as 50 percent, according to the mayor, with most of the having taken place near Highway 78 and I-20.

Gasoline sales at Riverside Landings’ new filling pump totaled slightly more than $6,000 since it was installed last month, Jessup told the council.  A boardwalk at the landing is almost completed, and the city has applied for a grant that it hopes will pay for paving the parking area, improving lighting, and placing utility lines underground at the landing.

Council members also voted to accept maintenance responsibilities for four outdoor weather sirens provided by the St. Clair County Emergency Management Agency.  Councilman Kenny Womack opposed the move, citing concerns about costs.