BENTON – At Monday night’s Benton City Council meeting, Finance Commissioner Christopher Kays told the council the city has “a significant spending problem.”

Kays says while preparing next fiscal year’s budget for approval on April 28, he is starting to see declining revenues which indicates a recession environment.

The city is financially okay at this time according to Kays, but if it continues on its spending path, then in a couple of years the city will be in trouble.

Kays, who wasn’t on the council when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, says the pandemic was “an absolute savior” for the community in terms of its finances.

Kays says he has started working on increasing compensation for the mayor and the council even though it doesn’t actually matter until 2027.

Mayor Lee Messersmith says he wants the council to take time to look over the budget. The city will also speak with department heads about the budget.

A public budget hearing will be held on Monday, April 28 at 4:15 p.m. at City Hall in the Campbell Building with the City Council meeting to following at 5 p.m.