07/17/09
Preliminary report shows fiscal 2009 municipal budget 'in great shape'
A fiscal year that had some officials worried has ended in what the town manager has called "great shape".
Revenues from sources other than property tax exceeded expectations, and expenditures were below budget in all departments except for the pool, said Town Manager Michael McGovern, in a financial update memo to the Town Council dated July 2, 2009.
"We are still working on closing out the fiscal year but overall we ended up a challenging year in great shape," McGovern said in his report.
McGovern provided the financial update as the council approved annual carry-forward balances for the fiscal year at their meeting July 13.
Auditors are working this month to prepare final audited numbers, which will be available in early September.
On the revenue side, general fund revenues from sources other than property tax were down $146,000 from the year before, "but we foresaw that this would be a difficult year so we actually exceeded budgeted revenues by $97,000, and by $210,000 if we include the (federal) reimbursement for the December 2008 ice storm," McGovern's memo says.
The overall general fund budget, following carry-forwards to next fiscal year, will have saved approximately $100,000, he said. "This number is still quite elastic as we are still reviewing numbers, pending bills and the accounting of the payroll for accrued vacation and sick leave being paid out to departing staff," the report says.
At the July 13 meeting of the Town Council, McGovern said the savings, which will go into undesignated surplus for fiscal 2010, is a credit to the leadership of the Town's departments. He also credited the Town Council for its foresight in planning for the declines in revenue.
Councilors approved a set of carry-forward balances, unexpended funds from various departments, totaling $617,588. The total includes $210,000 budgeted as carry-forward balance.
Also carried forward was $955,326 unexpended funds from a 2008 bond issue. These carry-forward balances will be available during the current fiscal year for their previously intended purposes.
McGovern also reported that the amount due from property taxes had increased $106,000 over the previous year's figure of $156,575, but that most of that increase, $94,000, was owed by the former Viking Nursing Home. The home has undergone foreclosure proceedings and the taxes should be paid shortly, he said.
"For all the 'gloom and doom'," McGovern told the council, "we ended the year in really good shape."
The $3.7 million payroll and social security budget, the largest item in the $8.8 million municipal budget, was underspent by $142,000, McGovern said. The savings came from consolidation of the town clerk's position with the assistant town manager's, an extended vacancy in the police captain's position, and savings in police overtime.
Further savings were realized in printing and advertising,
conferences and meetings, and office and miscellaneous supplies, McGovern said.
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