SPRINGDALE — Mayor Doug Sprouse sent a 2011 budget without raises for city employees to the City Council on Friday.
“This budget met our primary goals,” Sprouse said. “We have a balanced budget that didn’t touch our reserves. We kept the city services at current levels. We have to be good managers during this tough period.”
Projected income would be slightly lower than expenses for the general fund. The mayor’s budget estimates general fund income at $27.62 million and expenses at $27.69 million, a shortfall of $60,000.
AT A GLANCE
City Budget Review Schedule
• Work Sessions: Nov. 8 and Nov. 22
• Sessions if needed: Nov. 29 and Dec. 6
Council approval is expected at its regular meeting Dec. 14.
Sessions and council meeting will be at 6 p.m. in the City Administration Building, 201 Spring St.
Source: City Of Springdale
The shortfall could be made up from a $200,000 carryover from the 2010 budget, said Wyman Morgan, city director of administration and financial services.
The mayor did not include any major equipment purchases in his budget.
“Booming economic times may be just around the corner but they have not yet had a positive effect on the city of Springdale’s budget,” stated the memo.
The austere budget reflects the uncertainty of revenue for the city, Morgan said. Property taxes and county sales taxes are down so far in 2010 compared to 2009 revenues. County sales taxes are the largest source of income for the city.
The city could receive a larger slice of county sales taxes and state turnback taxes after the state receives the final figures for the 2010 U.S. Census, Sprouse said.
Any possible additional tax revenue was not included in the budget, Sprouse said. If the added revenue — projected to begin in April — is substantial, the city might give some employee raises then, he said.
“We’ll have a better idea what the effect will be,” Sprouse said. “We also will better see how the national economy affects us.”
The city could see as much as a $750,000 gain in 2011 from the census numbers, Morgan said. The projected impact for an entire year could be $1 million, Morgan said.
City employees received a step increase in 2010, which raised pay from 2.1 percent to 5.9 percent, according to the memo. They did not receive a raise in 2008.
Alderman Ricky Evans was OK with delaying the decision on raises, he said.
“If that’s the way we’ve got to do it right now,” Evans said. “I really haven’t had the time to go over the entire budget to see if there are any places we can cut it.”
Aldermen receive $850 per month. Neither the council nor any city elected official received a raise in the proposed budget.
The budget also contains an unfunded wish list from departments totaling $1.2 million for equipment and building improvements. Those requests will need to go through the city’s Capital Improvement Program committee to be approved, Sprouse said.
“That’s the way we have been doing it the last couple of years,” said Evans, the chairman of the capital improvement committee. “Even if the expense was approved by the budget.”
The requests include seven police cars, a fire engine and a diesel exhaust removal system for each of the six fire stations.
The improvement fund, at the end of 2010, will include $13 million for a new interchange on Interstate 540, $2.1 million to improve the north end of Arkansas 265 and $1.5 million for parks, Morgan said.
Springdale’s 1 percent sales tax for improvements, which voters approved in the early 1990s, does not go directly into the general fund, Evans said. The tax was split with the improvement fund receiving 75 percent and the general fund 25 percent.
The council voted last year to change the percentage to a 50-50 split. The same split is carried into the 2011 budget, Sprouse said.
The city levies an additional 1 percent sales tax, dedicated to paying off city street bonds.