Agenda Packets - 2002/10/28 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Court fines are also down somewhat, although they aren’t a significant revenue item for the City. Interest revenue significantly exceeded the budget in 2001. Given the lower interest rates in the financial markets, I expect interest income to be close to the budget for 2002. On the expenditure side of the General Fund budget, only the Police Department stands out for comment. In the 2001 budget, appropriations for two additional police officers were included as part of a COPS grant. The grant wasn’t received and the officers were not hired. Appropriations for another officer were added in the 2002 budget, but none was hired due to anticipation of the state’s budget crisis. The Police Chief’s position has been vacant for all of 2002. These unfilled positions have generated much of the budget surplus in 2001 and 2002, but won’t be there in 2003. In 2001, total expenditures were $484,222 under budget. The September 2002 YTD expenditures are very close to the September 2001 YTD expenditures. This points to the possibility of a similar surplus in 2002. With revenues tracking to be on budget in total and expenditures tracking about $400,000 under budget, we can look for about a $400,000 surplus at year-end. If the State cuts the December state aid payment by some amount that will directly reduce the surplus. Any surplus should be retained in the General Fund to deal with state aid cuts that should be expected for 2003. Other Funds: Community Center operations have deteriorated compared to 2001. This will be reviewed in detail in the 2003 budget on November 6th. The tax increment financing districts are having a better year than was anticipated either by the 2002 budget or by Ehlers & Associates when they reported to the City Council last spring. TIF tax collections are a little better than expected and either a small transfer or no transfer to the EDA fund will be needed. This is the result of the EDA having a quieter year than 2001 and a state DTED grant being collected in 2002 that related to project expenditures in 2001. The MSA Construction Fund receives allocations from the State of Minnesota gas tax collections. It is possible for this fund to accumulate a cash balance and ours had a balance of $191,600 as of December 31, 1999. During 2000 and 2001, modest expenditures were made for engineering studies, mostly for Edgewood Drive, Highway 10, and County Road H2 design. In 2002, H2