City’s preliminary budget: $76.5 million
Like a harbinger of the crisp fall days to come, the preliminary 2007 city budget made its first appearance at Tuesday’s council meeting.
Weighing in at $76.5 million, it’s balanced and looks a lot like this year’s, with a few exceptions.
The city set aside funds for four new positions, bringing the total number of employees to the equivalent of 70 full-time workers. It also allows for a new maintenance worker at the CenterPlace community center. Two new information technology hires and extra help for construction permitting also were added.
Additionally, the 2006 budget had added two new engineers, one with expertise in traffic and the other in storm water.
Total general fund revenues, which pay for most of the city’s day-to-day operations, are estimated at $33.6 million. That’s up from the year before and similar to revenues in 2005. Sales taxes are up about $900,000 to $17.7 million. Property taxes also are up by $1.2 million, mostly because of rising property values and reassessments of Valley property. Fees associated with building made up $2.5 million of the budget in 2005. In this year’s budget, permits brought in $1.7 million. They are expected to decrease by $85,000 next year.
The rest of the city’s cash is divided among various funds set aside for things like capital and road projects that often draw from state and federal grants and city bonds.
Since its inception, the city also has been putting some of its savings aside.
“Over the last three years we’ve built some substantial reserves,” Finance Director Ken Thompson told the council at its meeting Tuesday night.
They include about $540,000 for emergency snowplowing and $5.2 million to keep essential city services running should city revenues dry up because of a turn in the economy.
By 2007, there will be $3.5 million set aside for new park and pool facilities. Another fund has accumulated $1.2 million to be used toward a new civic building, such as a city hall.
Most departments also carry fund balances from year to year, and the city will carry over about $28 million from this year’s budget. City revenues are expected to come in at $60 million, though, so the city has set aside about $17 million of those reserves to meet all its potential obligations in 2007. City officials say that many of the budgeted expenses may not occur, though, so it’s estimated that the fund balance will likely decrease by only $3 million at the end of 2007.
That still concerns Thompson and City Manager Dave Mercier, who pointed out that if revenues and expenditures stay the same, a deficit in funds for road work will appear in 2009 and a deficit in the general fund is looming in 2011.
Council members agreed the street fund deficit needed to be addressed after a street master plan is completed early next year.
No one testified at a public hearing on city revenues at Tuesday’s meeting. The council will hold two more hearings in October before adopting the budget.