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2009 Budget Deadline Looming
By Jerry | May 27, 2008
Tonight the City Council is holding a special work session to go over budget proposals for fiscal year 2009. I have taken the leadership role in this process and sent the following email to the council regarding the difficult decisions we will have to make in the coming weeks.
This year’s budget presents some new challenges that will effect our city and it’s citizens. Being an active observer in budget discussions can be informative and important. I urge you to take a minute, read my letter below and review the numbers for yourself. While this may not be the most exciting and interesting blog post I have ever made, it is by far one of the most important. Your input, comments, and concerns will go a long way into helping Snellville establish financial stability for the coming year.
Council Members,
As you know, given the present situation with the vacant city manager position, the process for the preparation of the budget for the 2008-2009 fiscal year cannot be done in strict accordance with the provisions of our code. Pursuant to the provisions of Section 2-171 and in an effort to insure that the Council adopts a budget prior to the commencement of the next fiscal year, I suggested to the staff that they proceed with forwarding to the Council their budget requests for the next fiscal year. That budget that was sent to each of you on May 1, 2008 is not balanced and has a revenue deficit of approximately 1.5 million dollars. The Council has to make some difficult decisions in order to bring it into balance. Accordingly, I suggested to the staff that they provide the Council with a range of options to consider for purposes of balancing the budget.
In an effort to stimulate discussion with the Council in adopting a balanced budget, I have developed a budget proposal of my own that I am submitting to the Council for its consideration.
The differences between the May 1 version and mine are as follows:
- Employees salary raises are reduced from 4% to 2.5 %.
- Employees will contribute to cover medical dependent care, $50 per pay period for children or spouse coverage or $100 per pay period for family coverage.
- There are no new positions in any city department.
- The Planning Department Director salary is budgeted for nine months.
- The Economic Development Coordinator salary is budgeted for six months.
- The site improvement budget is reduced to $400,000 and $300,000 of that amount is moved to the storm water utility enterprise fund.
- The storm water utility enterprise fund expenditures consist of $300,000 for capital projects and $20,000 for consulting fees.
- The millage rate is increased to 4.95 from the present 3.65. The revenue generated is based on the new real estate digest that was received from Gwinnett County on Thursday, May 22, 2008.
For the record, this budget has been prepared for discussion purposes and not in a capacity as Chief Executive Officer. Furthermore, in submitting this proposal I am not attempting to usurp any powers specifically reserved to the city manager.
I look forward to working with the Council in good faith to adopt a fiscally responsible budget. Please do not hesitate to contact me with your questions or suggestions.
Regards
Jerry Oberholtzer
Attachment (.PDF Format): Proposed FY2009 Budget
Topics: Miscellany |
May 28th, 2008 at 3:19 pm
According to my calculation, the mathematically-correct millage rate would be 4.792.
While it is unfortunate that any tax increase would be necessary, I hope that the City Council will adopt a tax rate that does not take more from the property owners of Snellville than is necessary to fully fund the cost of government.
The calculation: the portion of the budget to be funded by property tax dollars (4,149,245) divided by the Net Tax Digest ($865,875,878). The result, multiplied by 1,000 (4.792) equals the amount of tax, in dollars, on every thousand dollars of taxable value required to generate the required revenue.
For more information about the millage rate and how to calculate what Snellville’s proposed tax increase means to you, visit www.millagerate.com/howto.htm
May 28th, 2008 at 4:06 pm
Bob,
Thanks for working out the math. I agree with your sentiment about raising taxes, and I also agree that the city should only raise the rate to the level necessary to balance the budget.
The budget and the numbers I presented are preliminary, but my goal is set, and that’s to balance the budget while working toward efficient and effective government.