05-26-2021 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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CITY OF LITTLE CANADA, MINNESOTA Management’s Discussion and Analysis (continued) Year Ended December 31, 2020 BUDGETARY HIGHLIGHTS General Fund The General Fund original budget was revised to reflect the following changes: • Intergovernmental revenue was increased by $782,484 to reflect the federal CARES Act funds that were received to deal with the financial impacts of COVID-19. Public safety expenditures were increased by $111,437 for COVID-19 expenditures incurred that were outside the public health and safety payroll allocation. • The protective inspection expenditure budget in the public safety category increased by $78,870 for building permitting efficiency upgrades. These upgrades were funded with fund balance that had increased in the prior fiscal year due to building permits that exceeded budget amounts. • The intergovernmental revenue and fire department budgets were increased by $9,133 due to the State Fire Relief funds received by the City that were required by State Statute to be paid to the Fire Relief Association. The actual results were different than the final budget amounts. Large differences are as follows: • Total General Fund revenues exceeded the budget by $60,092. The biggest budget variances for revenue categories were within intergovernmental revenue, property taxes, licenses and permits, and investment earnings. o $66,267 in FEMA funds were received in the fall of 2020 to reimburse the City for emergency sandbagging and pumping operations at Twin Lake that occurred in 2019. o Property tax revenue ended at 103% of budget. Per the City’s Financial Policies, first-year property tax collections are included in the General Fund budget at a 97.5% collection rate. First-year collections were 98.89% during the current fiscal year. In addition, delinquent property taxes were received. o License and permit revenue ended at only 74% of budget due to less building permit activity due to the pandemic. In addition, liquor license credits were granted to on-sale establishments due to a mandated 12-week closure of these businesses due to the pandemic. o Investment earnings exceed the budget by 130%. This was due to the market rate adjustment. • Total General Fund Expenditures were under budget by $279,894 or 93.52%. In order to maintain flexibility in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic and the uncertainly of revenue collections, expenditure reductions were identified and realized whenever possible throughout the year in all departments. o The largest savings in the general government category were for the attorney and prosecutions savings of $30,535. There was less utilization of these services needed than was anticipated when the budget was prepared. o Under the public safety category, protection inspection realized the largest savings. A portion of these savings were for the Code Enforcement Officer position that was kept vacant due to the pandemic. 27