Rogers Official Begin Work On 2015 Budget

ROGERS -- Establishing a multimillion dollar city budget is a long process that includes department heads, the mayor, the finance director, aldermen and residents.

The process began last week, and will continue until the budget is approved in late November or early December, city officials said.

At A Glance

Budget Process

The Rogers city budget process has begun. Over the next three months officials will:

• Meet with department heads to discuss individual budgets. That process will end around Sept. 29

• A preliminary budget will be published and distributed to aldermen on Oct. 21.

• A committee of the whole meeting is set for Oct. 28 in Council Chambers at City Hall. The meeting is open to the public.

• If there are revisions to the budget after the committee of the whole meeting, changes will be to reflect aldermen’s wishes and returned to department heads for review.

• Aldermen are expected to approve the 2015 budget on Nov. 25 during the regular council meeting.

Source: Staff Report

"We had a brief meeting last week with department heads to get the budget ball rolling," said Casey Wilhelm, finance director.

"We kind of set the tone for next year," said Greg Hines, mayor. "The city has a lot of capital improvement projects going and more projects slated for next year. We will plan conservatively for 2015, which is nothing new."

Hines said they will work to finish projects under way, rather than undertake new projects. He expects the budget to remain flat.

"If we can get by without a certain capital improvement for another year, that's what we will do," Hines said.

Some projects will be paid for with money from reserve, Hines said. However, most money used for streets, trails and renovation of Lake Atalanta will be repaid when the next round of 2011 bonds are sold. That bond issue is being retired with revenue from a 1 percent sales tax.

Reserves are necessary, Hines said.

"They are there to be spent for projects that benefits our residents," he said.

"I won't, nor will the aldermen, allow our reserves to get too low," Hines said. Reserves equal about three months of operating money.

The past couple of years sales tax revenue has been around $14 million, Wilhelm said. City and county sales tax revenue make up a large part of the annual city budget, which runs around $39 million.

"I expect we will budget for about $14 million again next year. We will likely see some increase in sales tax (revenue), but I doubt the increase will be very much," Wilhelm said.

The new Walmart Supercenter in Springdale is expected to draw about $200,000 away from Rogers next year, Wilhelm said.

"That may seem like a lot of money, but you put that against $14 million, it's a drop in the bucket. I don't think we will miss it. Besides, that $200,000 figure is an estimate, it could be lower or higher than that. We won't know until next year," she said.

Another question mark in the budget is insurance cost, she said.

"We won't get a quote on insurance for the employee until late September. When we get the quote we have to figure out how to divide what I expect will be an increase in premium. We will have to determine how much the city will contribute to the expected increase and how much will go to the employee," Wilhelm said.

Some department heads began the budget process in July.

"I started about two months ago pulling the Police Department budget together," said Capt. James Baker, administrative captain. The police budget, because of the number of officers and vehicles, is usually the highest department budget.

The senior command staff makes recommendations regarding equipment and personnel to James Allen, police chief, and Baker.

"We discuss those needs. We determine what we must have to continue to provide pubic safety for the residents, and toss out any requests we think we can get along without for another year or two," Baker said.

Gasoline for the police fleet is usually an educated guess, Baker said.

"I do as much review of the gasoline market as I can to see what the future trends might be in six months or a year, but I don't have crystal ball that looks into the future. The price of gasoline is as volatile as the liquid itself. Things change swiftly in the world, and gasoline prices are usually affected," Baker said.

So far this year, the Police Department has used 101,000 gallons of gasoline, he said.

Vehicles are the other major expense for the department, Baker said.

"We always need to replace 12-15 vehicles a year just because they are worn out. We started a plan last year where we add so many cars a year to keep the fleet in good condition," Baker said.

Wilhelm confirmed from $300,000 to $500,000 will likely be in the capital improvement column for the Police Department next year.

Fire Department officials follow much the same pattern as police. Tom Jenkins, fire chief, reviews several previous budgets, and meets with senior officers to determine needs for the next year. Most department heads follow a similar process.

Betsy Reithemeyer, alderwoman and chairwoman of the City Council Finance Committee, said the budget process evolves each year.

"We have a very professional staff at the city and their input is excellent. The city budget is on the city website so anyone can review the document to find where the money comes from and how it's spent," Reithemeyer said. "It's a very transparent process."

"We've also started to review the budget on a monthly basis with Casey, so if there are any problems we know about. We don't like surprises. We would rather fix a problem quickly than find out about it at the end of the year," Reithemeyer said.

NW News on 09/01/2014

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