Livingston Board of Aldermen approved final budget amendments for the current fiscal year during a special called meeting Monday.
CPA Joel Parks said the 11-page document reconciled the budget from a year ago with actual year-end figures. Parks said the adjustments account for unforeseen differences in materials costs, revenue items, and various departmental expenses that occurred throughout the year.
“We’re covering our backside for the items that have been expended,” Parks said. “There are several categories that are over, there are many categories that are under as far as line items. This is only to approve that we basically appropriate the funds for those expenses.”
Parks said property tax revenue appears to be approximately $108,000 less than originally projected. Parks said other revenue streams performed better than expected, including a $75,000 increase in delinquent tax collections and a $54,000 increase in sales tax.
“We try to base our expenses on less revenue coming in instead of projecting high revenue and obligating it,” Parks said. “That’s just not smart, so we don’t do that. And the mayor is very strong on wanting to show correct numbers estimates that are safe instead of exceeding.”
The amendments also reflected a $1.6 million increase in downtown revitalization spending, which Parks said is offset by substantial grants from the state. Parks said building permits and the sale of assets also brought in significantly more revenue than the city had initially anticipated.
“We have to try to account for those accounts payable and the accounts receivable in the revenue,” Parks said, “But yes there is a if you want to call it fluff, there’s a an amount that can be spent but we just don’t expect it to be. But because we don’t want a finding from the auditors that says hey you’ve overspent this particular category, there’s some left in there just in case.”
Alderman Bill Linder said the city has shown improvement in its amended figures compared to proposals seen earlier in the month. Linder said the board still needs to hold a work session to evaluate the city pay scale and identify potential areas to cut costs.
“I really think you guys has done a good job if you go back and look at last year’s versus this year, go back and look at this tonight versus two or three weeks ago, you guys have done a fantastic job,” Linder said. “The only reason I’m voting no is for property tax.”
Linder initially cast a “no” vote before the mayor clarified that the vote was specifically for the year-end amendments and not the upcoming year’s budget or tax rate. Following that clarification, Linder changed his vote to support the amendments.
The board also approved a $100,000 transfer from the debt service fund to the general fund as a precautionary measure. Parks said while the city is in strong financial shape, the transfer ensures the fund balance remains at an appropriate level as the fiscal year closes.