2003/10/29 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

October 29,2003 l Utility taxes,which account for 11 percent of City re should grow on the whole by 2 percent in 2004.We expect that cable,natural gas,and electricity taxes will rise based on combination of price increases and consumption patterns. We think this growth will be tempered to some extent by telephone taxes,which could decline as people increasingly move to Internet and wireless calling options. Expenses My proposal for general government 2004 expenses amounts to$96.2 million,$4.5 million more than the 2003 budget of$91.7 million.The vast majority of this growth can be attributed to a$6 million Increase in Public Safety,which indudes a$45 million increase in the City's contribution to the Police and Fire Pension Funds.General government contributions to City reserve funds total$10.2 million.of which$5.6 million represents the Public Safety Pension reserve contributions. In being responsible to our citizens,we continuing to implement essential money saving practices.A few examples are: Alternative sentencing,which reduced our jail fees in excess of one-half million dollars through new sent,ncing options for isdem or offenses. d We have taken advantage of historically low interest rates and saved$1.14 million through debt refinancing. I While developing the 2003 budget,City departments committed to a permanent 1.5 percent reduction in operating budgets. • This permanent reduction amounts to mom than$1 million annually. In July of this year,I asked our department directors to under spend 2003 budgets.I am proud to say that all of our department directors came to the table and offered up savings of$1.8 million, contributing to this balanced 2004 budget. We've realized accumulated savings of more than$4 million by holding the line on department maintenance and operation budgets for the last six years.