Falling revenues and increasing maintenance costs will be two obstacles in creating a city budget for the next fiscal year, Mexico City Council members learned at a budget retreat Tuesday.
City Manager Todd Thompson said budget models calculated by staff showed the city will collect slightly less than the $5.4 million it had budgeted in revenue for 2010, but will also spend less than anticipated.
While the city had budgeted $5.86 million in expenditures, city expenditures would be about $5.6 million. It will also spend about $305,000 less than anticipated on one-time capital expenses from its reserve fund. Thompson said Mexico budget models showed Mexico had weathered the recent economic downturn fairly well.
“All told, for a difficult year, I think we’re going to come out pretty good in the general fund and still get a lot of what we anticipated done,” he said.
Thompson said the numbers discussed at Tuesday’s retreat were not concrete estimates of exactly how much money the city will spend and collect. He said the numbers could change if sales tax revenues rise with the end of the recession.
“I think with respect to the sales tax (decrease) that it has kind of bottomed out and things will start to go back up,” he said.
Mayor Ron Loesch said he wants the city to grow sales tax revenues by encouraging more retailers to open stores in Mexico. He said that revenue is being lost to other cities like Columbia, Jefferson City and Moberly.
“I’m of the opinion that we need to do more to grow our retail and commercial here in Mexico,” he said. “There’s too much stuff that you can’t get in this community.”
City staff began planning the budget models in mid-April. Council members agreed to hold another budget retreat sometime in July, Thompson said. In August, the city will send out value assessments and the council will hold its budget meeting and late that month there will be a public hearing on the city’s property tax. The final budget will be read and approved at council meetings in September.
Thompson said the July budget retreat would be useful because council members would have ample time to hash out controversial issues such as fee increases or cuts to city services.
Councilman Michael Myers was unable to attend the retreat. Loesch, Mayor Pro Tem Steve Nichols and councilmen Dan Botts and Chris Williams listened to presentations by representatives from each of the six city departments about what they would need from the 2011 budget.
Mexico Public Safety Director Susan Rockett said the city needs to install a tornado siren on its far south side as businesses and residential neighborhoods are expanding in that direction.
She also said the department needs to replace its fire trucks and police cars to prevent long-term repairs and replace firefighting gear because of safety concerns. She said most of the department’s fire gear was more than 10 years old.
“Our fire gear is in very, very horrible shape,” Rockett said. “It is well past its life expectancy.”
Parks and Recreation Director Chad Shoemaker said the city will have to decide if it wants to remain in control of the Elmwood Cemetery or sell its interest to a private entity. The cemetery brings in about $20,000 in fees from burials, but costs about $130,000 to maintain, meaning the city is losing more than $1 million each decade.
He said his department is also working on several improvement projects, with one example being the restrooms at Fairgrounds Park. He also said the department needs to survey Mexico residents and find out what projects people think are most important.
“I know money’s tight,” Shoemaker said. “But we need to survey our citizens so we can spend our money smart.”
Community Development Director Rita Jackson said the Mexico Animal Shelter wants to implement a program to spay and neuter animals before they leave the shelter.
She also said the code enforcement division wants to implement more stringent fines for violation of city ordinances, increase penalties for repeat offenders. She said the division also wants clearer definitions of terms used in the those city ordinances. She says violators sometimes use semantics of the law to try to get out of tickets.
“Sometimes people who have a couch in their front yard will tell me that’s their lawn furniture,” she said.
|
|
|
Falling revenues and increasing maintenance costs will be two obstacles in creating a city budget for the next fiscal year, Mexico City Council members learned at a budget retreat Tuesday.
City Manager Todd Thompson said budget models calculated by staff showed the city will collect slightly less than the $5.4 million it had budgeted in revenue for 2010, but will also spend less than anticipated.
While the city had budgeted $5.86 million in expenditures, city expenditures would be about $5.6 million. It will also spend about $305,000 less than anticipated on one-time capital expenses from its reserve fund. Thompson said Mexico budget models showed Mexico had weathered the recent economic downturn fairly well.
“All told, for a difficult year, I think we’re going to come out pretty good in the general fund and still get a lot of what we anticipated done,” he said.
Thompson said the numbers discussed at Tuesday’s retreat were not concrete estimates of exactly how much money the city will spend and collect. He said the numbers could change if sales tax revenues rise with the end of the recession.
“I think with respect to the sales tax (decrease) that it has kind of bottomed out and things will start to go back up,” he said.
Mayor Ron Loesch said he wants the city to grow sales tax revenues by encouraging more retailers to open stores in Mexico. He said that revenue is being lost to other cities like Columbia, Jefferson City and Moberly.
“I’m of the opinion that we need to do more to grow our retail and commercial here in Mexico,” he said. “There’s too much stuff that you can’t get in this community.”
City staff began planning the budget models in mid-April. Council members agreed to hold another budget retreat sometime in July, Thompson said. In August, the city will send out value assessments and the council will hold its budget meeting and late that month there will be a public hearing on the city’s property tax. The final budget will be read and approved at council meetings in September.
Thompson said the July budget retreat would be useful because council members would have ample time to hash out controversial issues such as fee increases or cuts to city services.
Councilman Michael Myers was unable to attend the retreat. Loesch, Mayor Pro Tem Steve Nichols and councilmen Dan Botts and Chris Williams listened to presentations by representatives from each of the six city departments about what they would need from the 2011 budget.
Mexico Public Safety Director Susan Rockett said the city needs to install a tornado siren on its far south side as businesses and residential neighborhoods are expanding in that direction.
She also said the department needs to replace its fire trucks and police cars to prevent long-term repairs and replace firefighting gear because of safety concerns. She said most of the department’s fire gear was more than 10 years old.
“Our fire gear is in very, very horrible shape,” Rockett said. “It is well past its life expectancy.”
Parks and Recreation Director Chad Shoemaker said the city will have to decide if it wants to remain in control of the Elmwood Cemetery or sell its interest to a private entity. The cemetery brings in about $20,000 in fees from burials, but costs about $130,000 to maintain, meaning the city is losing more than $1 million each decade.
He said his department is also working on several improvement projects, with one example being the restrooms at Fairgrounds Park. He also said the department needs to survey Mexico residents and find out what projects people think are most important.
“I know money’s tight,” Shoemaker said. “But we need to survey our citizens so we can spend our money smart.”
Community Development Director Rita Jackson said the Mexico Animal Shelter wants to implement a program to spay and neuter animals before they leave the shelter.
She also said the code enforcement division wants to implement more stringent fines for violation of city ordinances, increase penalties for repeat offenders. She said the division also wants clearer definitions of terms used in the those city ordinances. She says violators sometimes use semantics of the law to try to get out of tickets.
“Sometimes people who have a couch in their front yard will tell me that’s their lawn furniture,” she said.
