Emporia’s general fund ended 2006 under budget and with cash in the bank, administrative services director Larry Bucklinger told the city commission Wednesday.
The city had had to revise its general fund budget extensively in 2006 after a $700,000 shortfall was reported in February. That new budget projected $14,667,588 in revenue and $14,342,341 in expenses for a net $325,247 gain.
Revenues came in lower than expected, but so did expenses. The net result left the city in the black by $455,268. On top of that, the general fund even had a higher cash carryover than projected — $388,828 instead of $134,742.
That made for a nice change after having to borrow $700,000 from utility funds just to keep things level from 2005.
“Last year was, to say the least, a challenging year,” Bucklinger said.
The utility funds will be completely repaid by the end of 2008.
There were some surprises as the year went on. For example the city collected $646,125 in court fines and fees, nearly $120,000 below projections.
“That’s fairly substantial,” Mayor Jim Kessler said. “Our case load is up, but our income was down.”
“We couldn’t come up with a single large item to pin it on,” Bucklinger said.
In general, Bucklinger said, expenses were carefully watched throughout the year.
“Anything that could be delayed or postponed, we did,” he said.
That’s fine, Commissioner Ray Toso said, but it shouldn’t be taken too far. He pointed to a recent request by the fire and ambulance service for new extrication equipment, a thermal imaging camera and two AutoPulse devices for CPR.
“I know we have been watching our pennies, but the first I was aware of the critical nature of some of this equipment was in the county meeting the other day,” Toso said, referring to a Jan. 10 joint meeting with the Lyon County Commission. “If we’re going to have an ambulance service, they should have equipment that works.”
food4thought (anonymous) says...
Good to see that we ended in the black instead of the red. Maybe we won't have any raises in taxes. I sure wish someone could explain WHY taxes are higher in Lyon County then in some of the bigger counties? If you look at the tax charts Lyon Co is in the top 3 of highest taxed counties in the WHOLE state. WHY?
January 25, 2007 at 4:47 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
MelissaE (anonymous) says...
I agree....not to mention, Emporia can't seem to keep a business (except Wal-Mart) in town. Does anyone in this city understand that Wal-Mart is one of the worst places to work for in Lyon County?
January 26, 2007 at 9:45 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
MelissaE (anonymous) says...
Oh, and another thing, I wonder if the surplus will be added to the debt in "building the lovely courthouse" department or the "let's build a million dollar clock made of bricks" department when there was a perfectly good clock on Commercial & 6th Street (suddenly unplugged).?
January 26, 2007 at 9:47 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )