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Friday, 17 July 2009 |
By MIKE BURKHOLDER
Managing Editor
ST. MARYS — As the second half of the year picks up, a city official says he plans to be frugal with city funds for the remainder of 2009 and to 2010.
"Obviously revenues are down, but it wasn't unexpected," Safety-Service Director Tom Hitchcock said. "We knew going in it wouldn't be a good year."
Through June, total income tax collection figures for 2009 continue to sag behind previous years. The 1 percent income tax has netted the city $1.23 million so far in 2009, approximately $550,000 less than last year and approximately $160,000 less than 2007. The 0.5 percent income tax, voted in by city residents, also lags behind previous collection. In all, this year's combined collections are $835,419 behind last year's numbers and $234,612 behind 2007 figures.
"In the General Fund, whose main revenue source is the 1 percent income tax, we brought in $3.204 million and spent $3.217 million," Hitchcock said. "So we have spent $13,000 more than we brought in, but we are happy that's all the more we have spent. When we are down $800,000 and we only dipped into our coffers $13,000, that's not too bad."
To trim expenditures, Hitchcock said officials streamlined departments and the way workers perform services, including mowing and refuse collection. Other steps to cut costs include not replacing retiring employees and scrutinizing projects.
"We have several employees who have retired that we have not replaced," Hitchcock said. "As people retire, we determine if there is a need to replace them."
A factor that has helped the city save money is the recent trend in bids for projects coming in below estimates. In some cases, bids have come in 50 percent below estimates.
"Jobs have come in so good on the ones we planned that sometimes what we have appropriated is half," Hitchcock said. "That has helped us out on expenditures."
Hitchcock recently unveiled the preliminary budget for 2010. While developing the measure, Hitchcock said he is being cautious on revenue forecasts.
"We are keeping the approach that it is not really going to be better than this year," Hitchcock said. "I don't see how we can assumed that, at least for budgetary purposes. We hope it will be, but we have to assume it's not."
Hitchcock expects to present a finished version of the budget to councilors by November. In the meantime, he said he plans to look for areas to trim.
"We have done some things to streamline it and are looking to eliminate some line items and clean some things up," Hitchcock said.
"We are going to eliminate some of the fluff." |
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 01 September 2009 )
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