Sean C. Morgan
The city of Sweet Home Budget Committee unanimously approved the 2012-13 budget as proposed by staff on Thursday, May 3.
The proposed budget moves next to the City Council for adoption prior to the beginning of the fiscal year on July 1.
The total budget is $22 million, down $3.7 million from $25.7 million last year, a reduction of about 14 percent. Expenditures are down 15 percent, from $20.2 million to $17 million. Non-expenditure funds, approximately $5 million, include interfund transfers, unappropriated ending fund balances and contingency funds.
Overall, the budget includes a cut of 3.5 full-time equivalent positions, including a Building Division clerical assistant, a police officer, a dispatcher and a half-time library assistant. All positions were eliminated or unfilled during the current fiscal year, 2011-12, and are being eliminated completely in the proposed budget.
The approved budget includes a 3-percent wage increase for police personnel. General city employees and employees not represented by unions, including department heads, will advance to a new 3-percent step based on an evaluation.
Voting to approve the budget were Craig Fentiman, Marybeth Angulo, Mike Hall, Scott McKee Jr., Greg Mahler, Andrew Allen, Chuck Begley, Bruce Hobbs, Greg Korn, Gerritt Schaffer and Dave Trask. Absent during the vote were Jim Gourley, Ron Rodgers and Stephanie Boccardo.
The committee met May 1 through May 3 to discuss the budget.
Following are summaries of different funds:
General Fund
The General Fund decreases from $3.224 million to $2.965 million, reflecting a decrease in carryover. The beginning fund balance decreases from a budgeted $1.3 million to $928,000.
Most other resources remain relatively unchanged, with property taxes accounting for approximately $467,000, down by a little more than $1,000. Building permit revenue will decrease from a budgeted $60,000 to a proposed $52,000. State liquor tax sharing increases by nearly $10,000 to $118,000.
Municipal Court revenue is expected to grow by about $50,000 this year to $250,000. Finance Director Pat Gray said that while the number of citations issued by the Sweet Home Police Department has decreased by more than half since 2009-11 when the court had actual revenues of $250,000 per year, the courts are charging fees when people don’t pay; keeping fines for possession of controlled substances, which were being turned over to the state; and collecting more on delinquencies.
The General Fund also includes some $124,000 in grant funds, mostly for improvements at Hobart Park, including a boardwalk. Last year, the city had $5,000 in grants in the General Fund.
The last of the Police Department construction bonds was paid off last year, and transfers in and out of remaining funds from the General Obligation Bond Fund to the General Fund and then to the Police Levy Fund decreased from $75,000 to $7,252.
On the expenditure side, legislative, executive, finance, court and non-departmental spending change slightly.
Parks spending increases from $113,000 to $121,000, reflecting the salaries the city now pays its park caretakers. The city recently settled part of a lawsuit related to how the caretakers are paid. In the past, the city allowed caretakers to live at Sankey and Northside parks in exchange for taking care of the facilities. That arrangement is no longer allowed under Oregon law, and the city has had to begin paying the caretakers, who now pay rent. Capital outlays are reduced to $6,000 from $12,500, meaning fewer improvements in the parks next fiscal year.
The building division budget is $178,000, down from $222,000, reflecting the reduction of a clerical position that was unfilled during the current fiscal year and eliminated in the approved budget.
Community services programs were reduced from $39,000 to $11,100. Last year, the Budget Committee allocated money to several community charities through the General Fund. That spending was not repeated in the approved budget. The $11,000 includes $1,100 to the Meals on Wheels program, which the city has traditionally funded, and $10,000 in grant funds that pass through to the Senior Center’s Dial-A-Bus program.
The approved General Fund transfers $7,252 out to the Police Levy Fund but includes no additional transfers. The city had been transferring funds annually to the building reserve fund, used for new buildings, such as the Police Department a decade ago and a new City Hall in the future. The funds may be used to offset requests for general obligation bond levies from city voters for construction projects.
Last year, the Budget Committee reduced this transfer to pay for community service programs. The city further reduced it, instead transferring the funds to the police and library levies after learning that compression, caused by limitations on property taxes, was higher than anticipated.
Police Levy Fund
The Police Levy Fund will begin the fiscal year with $1 million carried over from 2011-12. Last year, it started with a budgeted $824,000.
The city transferred some $572,000 into the fund from the General Fund and saved some $200,000 from layoffs and savings. Without the transfer and savings, the police fund likely ended with no carryover. As it stands, the department will end the 2012-13 fiscal year with $296,000 to carry into the 2013-14 budget. Barring additional action, city officials are projecting that the fund will be in the red the following fiscal year.
Property tax compression, caused by property tax limitations and decreasing property values, has spiked in the past two years, which means revenues from the local option levy have decreased. The Police Levy Fund will receive $1.378 million in property taxes in 2012-13, down from an actual amount $1.748 million in property taxes in 2010-11 and $1.852 million in 2009-10.
Reductions in spending include the reduction of a police officer and dispatcher, while spending for materials and services is reduced by about $105,000 to $231,000.
Overall, the Police Levy Fund is reduced from $2.63 million to $2.49 million. In 2009-10, the budget was $3.7 million. The 2010-11 budget, $3.54 million, included the final payment, $548,000, on general obligation bonds used to construct the Police Department.
Library Levy Fund
Like the Police Levy Fund, the General Fund bolstered the Library Levy Fund last fall with a transfer of $60,000 to offset an unexpected revenue shortfall caused by property tax compression.
With the reduction of a library assistant and spending on books last fall, the library levy has managed to save $124,449 to start the fiscal year 2012-13, up from $24,550.
The Library Levy Fund will collect $176,600 in property taxes, down from a budgeted $227,000 in 2011-12 and up from an actual $169,300 in 2010-11.
Spending is at $145,800 for personnel services in the approved 2012-13 budget, down from $175,500 in the 2011-12 budget. Other spending remains about the same.
The library will finish the fiscal year 2012-13 with $96,000 to carryover into the 2013-14 fiscal year.
Building Reserve Fund
Some $45,000 will be spent on roofing projects from the $1 million Building Reserve Fund. The projects include roof and ballast replacement at the library, $25,000, and roof replacement at the Jim Riggs Community Center. The Community Center roof is under warranty, which will cover part of the costs.
Public Works – Streets
Among Public Works funds, the Street Maintenance Fund increases from $653,000 to $696,000.
The Street Maintenance Improvements Fund increases from $1.3 million to $1.7 million, reflecting a carryover of $1.4 million from the 2011-12 fiscal year. The fund will end the 2012-13 fiscal year with $1.3 million.
Spending includes $223,000 in striping and street projects, up from $130,000.
The $160,000 Path Program includes $160,000 in ADA improvements and a new sidewalk and bike lane on the west side of Mountain View Road between Elm Street and Ames Creek Bridge.
Public Works – Water
The water systems development charge capital fund features $150,000 in waterline expansion projects and $55,000 to help construct a new water filling station. The budget increases to $256,000 from $110,000. The fund will have a carryover of $245,000, while it was budgeted to end the 2011-12 fiscal year with no carryover.
The water capital construction fund is budgeted at $111,000, up from $75,000, includes $30,000 in waterline projects and $75,000 toward construction of a new water filling station, held over from this year, 2011-12. The fund will receive no money from water rates in 2012-13.
The Water Depreciation Fund, at $663,000, up from $528,000, includes $50,000 to demolish the old Water Treatment Plant on Ninth Avenue in addition to waterline replacement projects and regular repair and replacement projects.
The Water Fund, which covers the treatment plant and distribution system, is decreasing from $2.1 million to $2 million. The budget includes no increase in water rates for 2012-13.
Public Works – Wastewater
The Wastewater Depreciation Fund includes $4.65 million in repair and replacement projects, down from $7.55 million. Projects are primarily funded through low-interest and no-interest loans from the state and paid for through wastewater rates.
The projects are supposed to reduce inflow and infiltration, which is water that leaks into the sewer system through cracks in deteriorated pipes and cross connections to storm drains. During heavy rainstorms, I&I flow into the sewer system can overload the Wastewater Treatment Plant, forcing the plant to bypass untreated wastewater into the South Santiam River.
The city is operating under an agreement with the Department of Environmental Quality to reduce I&I.
The Wastewater Fund, which covers the treatment plant and collection system, decreases from $2.7 million to $2.4 million. It includes an increase in wastewater rates for 2012-13.