Budget Overview Shows City Is On Track For Current Year

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By Tammy Gray-Searles
    At 83 percent of the way through the 2007-08 fiscal year, the City of Holbrook has received approximately 82 percent of the revenue expected to be generated by property, sales, income and auto taxes.
    As of the end of April, according to a financial report provided by the city, a total of $3,028,026 in various taxes had been collected. The budget anticipates that by the end of the fiscal year, the city will have collected $3,680,553, leaving $652,527 to be collected by the end of June.
    When other revenue sources, such as franchise fees, court fines, land sales and interest earnings, are added in, the city has collected a total of $3.75 million in general fund revenues, or 80.7 percent of antici-pated revenues.
    Spending is on track or below expected amounts for most departments, although many anticipated capi-tal expenditures have not yet been made.
    The budget for administration reflects that the department is over budget by $43,605 with two months left to go in the budget year, but the over-expenditures were expected to occur after the city settled with former city manager David Newlin for $100,000. A transfer from another department is likely, as several are still far under budget, such as community development, which has spent 57 percent of its budget, the fire department, at 64 percent, and the levee fund, at 55.5 percent. In the community development budget, only $350 of the $3,000 set aside for code violation abatement has been spent.
    Among capital expenditures that have not yet been made is $6,000 for computers and software for the library, $16,000 for new shower stalls and pool lights at the municipal swimming pool, and $19,500 for new equipment and communication devices for the fire department.
    At first glance, utility fund revenues for water, wastewater and sanitation appear to be extremely low at only 27.5 percent of the expected amount. The anticipated revenues, however, include $5.5 million in fi-nancing proceeds in the event city officials were able to obtain a loan for the sewer interceptor line project. Removing the $5.5 million from the equation brings the revenues in line, with 81.5 percent of the antici-pated $2.8 million in revenues having been collected to date.
    Utility fund expenditures are less than anticipated, with the sanitation and water departments both at 77 percent, and wastewater at 66 percent.
    Very little of the funds set aside for water and wastewater capital projects have been spent, with ap-proximately $154,000 remaining for water projects, such as upgrading lines and relocating water wells, and about $190,000 remaining for wastewater projects that include upgrading sewer lines and purchasing a belt press for the wastewater treatment plant. Of the $75,000 set aside to upgrade water lines, $35,855 has been spent, and of the $75,000 designated for wastewater line upgrades, $9,300 has been expended.
    One area in which many city departments have exceeded their budgets is in the purchase of gasoline and fuel. The airport, for example, has spent 137 percent of the amount set aside for fuel, the fire depart-ment has spent 247 percent of its fuel budget and the water department has spent 95.4 percent of its fuel budget. Anticipated higher fuel prices were incorporated into the budget when it was created, but still not as high as the current gasoline prices. The police department, which by its very nature requires large amounts of gasoline, has managed to keep fuel expenditures in line with the amount budgeted, and has $10,955 re-maining in its fuel budget line item.
    The city council is currently working on the 2008-09 budget and planned to hold a work session to dis-cuss cuts made to balance the budget in the face of decreasing revenues and rising costs. The work session was scheduled for 6 p.m. on Tuesday, May 20, at city hall.