LAKEPORT — The City of Lakeport plans to spend as much money as possible in the 2013-14 fiscal year because it”s going to save the city a lot of money.
With interest rates at historic lows and expenses continuing to rise, it”s the right time to tackle major projects before they”re unaffordable, finance director Daniel Buffalo told council members at a budget workshop that preceded Tuesday”s regular city council meeting.
The council”s response to Buffalo”s 90-minute presentation was positive.
“I think it”s great that we”re doing the work now,” councilman Kenneth Parlet said. “With the costs keep going up, we keep losing ground.”
Tuesday”s workshop was the second of three budget sessions during which city staff presents and explains the pending fiscal plan for 2013-14. The council will then vote to accept, adjust or reject the plan.
The process of putting together an annual budget is always challenging, Buffalo later explained, and a fiscal year like 2013-14 provides its own special challenges.
Revenues from sales taxes are continuing to crawl higher, due mostly to higher gas prices and an improving new car market, Buffalo said. But according to projections, the type of revenue that sales taxes generated in the pre-Great Recession era (before 2008), won”t be seen again until 2016.
In recent years, the city has survived by cutting expenses, mostly in the area of personnel. When employees retired or otherwise left, the open positions often weren”t filled, Buffalo said.
The proposed budget, summarized in a 245-page report, estimates revenues to be $14.4 million and expenditures $16.7 million.
The general fund is balanced for the coming year and economic development activities get a lot of attention.
About half of the general fund will go toward employee salaries and benefits, with 35 percent going to operations and 12 percent to capital improvement projects (CIP).
The CIP in which the city plans to invest its money include $3.73 million on water and sewer projects that are partly financed with low-interest loans from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Revenues from Measure I, the general sales tax approved by Lakeport voters in 2004, should produce about $700,000, according to the proposed budget, about half of which would go to public works for streets and parks.
The budget recommends $200,000 be spent on the docks at Library Park.
The final budget workshop is scheduled for June 18, at which time the council will offer feedback and decide how much it likes the 2013-14 plan.
In its regularly scheduled meeting, the council voted 5-0 to approve applications to Sponsoring Survivorship for its annual Oct. 5 run and to the Opening Day of the Fair Parade on Aug. 29.
The council also reappointed Lynn Andre to the Lakeport Parks and Recreation Commission.
Rich Mellott is a staff reporter for Lake County Publishing. He can be reached at 263-5636, ext. 14 or rmellott@record-bee.com.
