Minutes 03/30/1988 - Laserfiche WebLink

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WEDNESDAY, MARCH 30, 1988 If all three of my recommendations with regard to amending the Enterprise Fund transfers were adopted the net increase in General Fund Revenue would be $398,800 for a total General Fund ReVenue, without any Contribution from Surplus, of $19,815,897. If the total anticipated General Fund Surplus of $1,766,793 were added to this revenue figure, the total available General Fund would be $21,582,690. Total recommended General Fund Expenditures, however, amount to $21,923,365, which would cause a shortfall of $340,675 without any major contingency reserve. If we were to adopt Mr. Brown's minimum recommended major contingency reserve of $500,000, the total shortfall would be $840,675 or 4% of the total General Fund Budget. When faced with such a shortfall an individual or a business - and I believe a government - has three options: (1) increase revenues, (2) decrease expenditures, or (3) a'l'combination of both. Mr. Brown has provided several suggestionsI"for increasing revenues. I, for one, cannot support any of his suggestions, other than increasing the sewer and water rates for the reasons I specified earlier, until I am convinced that every possible reduction in expenditures has been made. The Budget as presented does not convince me that every possible reduction'has been made. In fact, in a cursory review of Mr. Brown's budget message I found $232,000 of proposed expenditures which could be eliminated without altering the' proposed compensation adjustments, without eliminating any positions and without negatively affecting the level of service currently provided by the City. I am sure a more careful scrutiny of the proposed budget would reveal further reductions which could be made. One final note. The proposed Budget reflects a General Fund Surplus of $1,766,793 at June 30, 1988. Our Budget as adopted last year projected a General Fund surplus of only $507,001 at June 30, 1988. Thus, through the careful and frugal management of Mr. Brown and all of the City department heads and other employees, $1,259,792 of money which was appropriated was not expended. For this I believe Mr. Brown and his staff should be congratulated. And I also believe that this savings should be used to benefit the citizens of this City and could be freely employed in FY 88-89. My only objection is to Expenditures which are proposed to exceed General Fund Revenues by more than this amount.