6.0. SR 07-26-1999 - Laserfiche WebLink

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2000 Budget July 21, 1999 Pae-e 3 . REVENUES Overview Total general fund revenues are projected in the amount of $5,717,550. This is a $345,100 or 6.6 percent increase over the adopted 1999 budget. The major budget increases are in tax revenues and in the city revenues that are related to growth such as building permit fees, plan check fees, interest income, and police (traffic) fines. The largest decreases in revenues shows up in the school liaison program and in the state grants for such police services as COPS FAST, community policing (overtime), and the Safe and Sober program. It appears that in order to balance the 2000 budget, we will have to concentrate more on expenditure reductions rather than revenue increases as we are always concerned about an increase in our city tax rate and becoming too dependent on growth revenues and having these funds cease to be available in the future. Taxes . Levy limits were re-imposed on municipalities in 1998 and continue for the 2000 budget. The city did not levy to its limit as allowed by law in 1999. The law allows cities to increase their non bonded tax revenue by a inflationary factor and a household growth rate. There should be sufficient tax revenue available within the levy limit law to fund necessary municipal expenditures. The levy limit information is not yet available from the state, but is expected in later July or early August. Taxes are projected to increase by $300,000 in 2000. This is a 10 percent increase. It is anticipated that this $3,293,950 tax levy for general fund purposes will still be below the levy limit allowed by state law. Taxes represent 57.6 percent of the total general fund expenditures. The impact of this additional tax revenue on the city tax rate will not be known for at least a month, and most likely we will not know our NTC growth figure until October, which is after the September 15 tax levy certification deadline. At the worksession on July 26, the finance director will have some projections available for your review showing the impact of the additional taxes on the tax rate based on 0, 3, and 6 percent increase in the city's NTC. This should give everyone some understanding of the impact on the city's tax rate for generating this amount of additional general fund tax revenues. . General fund tax revenues represented approximately 82.5 percent of the 1999 city tax levy. Non general fund tax levy items included the equipment certificates, Lake Orono, library, dam loan, development fund, surface water