Pacific officials are budgeting $215,000 for legal fees in the city’s preliminary 2017 budget.

But City Administrator Richard Gould cautioned that number could change during Monday night’s council meeting.

“I want to be ultraconservative when we prepare this first budget,” he said.

Gould said that number could change based on what the City spends in legal fees this year. Through the first three quarters of 2016, he said the City spent $130,000 in that category, which puts Pacific on pace to spend more than $173,000 for the year. Gould said they budgeted $192,250 in legal fees for this year.

Multiple members of the City Council clarified to city attorney Carol Morris that not all of that budget is dedicated. Gould said the legal fees also encompass the work of Summit Law, which assists the City with human resources advice, collective bargaining agreements, lawsuits against Pacific, as well as other expenses, such as the prosecuting attorney.

According to the projected budget, Pacific officials expect to carry nearly a $7.7 million fund balance into 2017. Some of that could be used to cover the projected difference between next year’s expenses, which are expected to be about $532,000 more than revenue. Revenue is projected to be more than $16,384,000 in 2017.

Public hearings are set for 6:30 p.m. Nov. 21 and Dec. 5 at the city administration building to receive feedback from residents on Pacific’s final budget for 2017. Gould said he expects the council to adopt it by Dec. 12.

Also …

The Council tabled ordinances that would have changed the City’s sign code and office park district regulations. Multiple council members said they wanted more information on both ordinances before they were ready to vote on them. … There will be a public hearing at 6:30 p.m. Nov. 14 to discuss a potential utility rate hike. If approved, the new rates would go into effect Jan. 1.