CORINTH — City Council members had few answers for local sports club representatives who addressed them Thursday during a public hearing on the city’s budget.

Chandra Culp, secretary of the Lake Cities Baseball Association and a Corinth resident, told the council she wasn’t quite prepared for the forum but she came to find out more about the budget cuts and how they would affect the different groups using the city’s parks.

“We know the city is trying to cut back on water and electricity, but we can’t understand why nonprofit organizations are being forced to take on those cuts,” Culp said.

Area sports clubs learned at a recent meeting that it was possible some type of maintenance cost would be allocated to them based on their prior use of city fields.

Budget cuts last year meant less money for park maintenance, including watering ball fields.

“We’ve asked for some kind of backup to those calculations, but so far we haven’t gotten anything,” Culp said.

Council member Randy Gibbons, whose son plays in a local soccer league, said he was approached by a leader in the league about the proposal. Both he and interim City Manager Jim Berzina said they are trying to gather more details and hope to provide the council more information at a budget workshop meeting next Thursday.

The 2010-11 budget includes adoption of the effective tax rate and several major cuts to manage an anticipated drop of about 6 percent in sales tax revenue and a $50 million decrease in property tax valuations in the city.

Fees charged to residents for water and wastewater service will remain the same next year.

No city employees will receive cost-of-living increases, nor will police and fire department employees receive step increases. The budget includes cutting four full-time positions from the general budget and two full-time positions from the utility budget.

The budget also ends transportation service for people with disabilities and seniors as of Dec. 31. Corinth recently ended a contract with the Denton County Transportation Authority for curbside bus service because of rising costs and switched to Special Programs for Aging Needs. SPAN costs also rose for 2010-11, raising the issue again.

Resident Sim Portnoy asked the council to pull the minutes for the July 29 budget and workshop session, questioning the thoroughness of the notes. He told the council that he felt the minutes did not reflect the substance of the conversation, particularly as it related to the debate over transportation services.

“The city manager and mayor repeatedly said, ‘We are not in the transportation business,’” Portnoy said. “I was there. I’m asking you to put that back in the minutes and let the residents know where you stand.”

Mayor Paul Ruggiere said he felt the minutes accurately reflected his comments but reminded the council that it is free to request changes.

Council member John Booher asked for one addition: a summary of a long discussion about the effective tax rate and rollback rate in relation to the economic downturn.

The council delayed consideration of those minutes until Sept. 16. A final vote on the $28.9 million budget, tax rate and capital improvement plan also is scheduled for the meeting that day.

PEGGY HEINKEL-WOLFE can be reached at 940-566-6881. Her e-mail is pheinkel-wolfe@dentonrc.com .