Correspondent

The Caneyville City Commission used much of its Tuesday night meeting time for action on city employees' pay, vacation time and uniforms for its four full-time employees.

In both open and closed sessions, the commissioners approved a 25-cent per hour raise for city workers, plus a bonus for each of $250 that would "arrive around Christmas." Commissioners also decided to stop renting uniforms for city workers and buy them.

The new salary schedule goes into effect with the new fiscal year on July 1.

State Rep. C.B. Embry Jr., R-Morgantown, in what he called a visit "to stay in touch," summarized legislative action on the state budget last session. He said funds to local governments were to be cut in two versions of the current state budget, "but we did manage to keep half of the $2.6 million cities and counties would have lost in earlier budget proposals."

The commission used some of the funds Tuesday night when they passed a motion to use its share of tax money from off-shore drilling for oil and gas ($500) for general city spending. They also planned to spend $8,000 from municipal aid funds for resurfacing and other repairs to the city's streets in the new fiscal year.

That year's budget is not final, and commissioners set a special meeting for 11 a.m. June 27 to firm up figures. Because of new state regulations on auditing that require cities to list everything they own, the commission said it faces an additional $1,200 bill for next year's audit. Last year's bill was $5,975.

Before adjourning, Mayor James P. Embry asked city residents to take notice of the appearance of property in the city.

"With summer here," he said, "it's time to mow and clean up from the winter, get the city looking better," he said.