Surplus money going into reserves

Year end budget numbers were brought forward at Tuesday night’s City Council meeting.

Overall a number of departments saw a surplus which will be transferred in to reserves. Some of that includes over $1.7-million at the Fire Department.

Mayor Al McDonald says these numbers are sometimes a surprise for City Staff. He says “we budget to break even. When you do your budgets it’s best guess, so we’re saying here’s what it is going to cost us to operate and staff are making those recommendations.”

Meantime, General Government Activities ended the year with a $1.6-million deficit and the Water and Wastewater operations came in at just under $1-million in surplus money.

Councillor Mark King says there shouldn’t be any surplus money if the tax levy is as high as it is this year at just under 6%. The surplus money goes straight into reserves and King says there could be a better option.

He says “the way we should be doing it, I think, is that the surplus from the previous year should be rolled into the next year to compensate for tax increases.”