Laserfiche WebLink
City of Orono 2023 Preliminary Budget Central Services is increasing $52,500 (16.46%). The Fire Budget is increasing by $644,838 (LL $138,638, Orono $506,200). The Police budget is increasing by $263,010 (4.7.3%) as the result of wages, benefits, and squad replacement costs. Street Maintenance is increasing $69,050 (11.33%). This is the result of wages, increased maintenance costs, and IT Services. The Golf Course is being removed from the General Fund resulting in a $364,800 reduction. The annual transfer for fire equipment has been replaced with a tax levy directly to the Fire Capital Fund. As a result, transfers are decreasing by $200,000 (50%). Additional information on general fund departments can be found in the information included with this document. General Fund Revenues. For revenues, the General Fund budget totals $11,536,500 and is increasing by $566,360 (5.2%). The General Fund property tax levy is increasing by $904,100 (16.3%). The other significant to the revenue budget is the removal of the Golf Course Revenue. Earlier this year, the Council approved moving the golf course out of the General Fund and back to an enterprise fund. Other than taxes, the main revenue source in the General Fund are Public Safety Charges. By working cooperatively with neighboring cities, we are able to provide expanded services to our citizens while keeping the tax rate as low as possible. Detailed revenue information is include with this document. Special Revenue Funds. The special revenue funds that budgets are adopted for are the Park Fund, The Drug Forfeiture Fund, and the TIF Fund. Special revenue funds by definition have a primary source of revenue that is dedicated for a specific purpose. In the Park Fund the primary revenue source is park dedication fees collected from developers and the tax levy. By state law, park dedication fees must be used for parkland acquisition and development. The Drug Forfeiture Fund receives its primary funding from the Police Department’s drug and alcohol enforcement activities. The funds must be used for drug and alcohol related activities. The TIF Fund is used to account for revenues related to the Orono Woods Senior Housing Development. The budgets for the Special Revenue Funds will be adopted as part of the final budget approved on December 11th. Debt Service Levies. The 2024 levy for debt service is decreasing by $182,000 to $780,000. This levy is used to pay the debt service on the City’s outstanding bonds. Enterprise Funds. The Water, Sewer, Stormwater, Recycling, and Cable Funds are designed to account for the business type activities of the City. These funds do not receive any property tax revenue. The goal for the Enterprise funds is to be fully funded by rates without depending on special assessments for infrastructure improvements. A preliminary budget is not adopted for the Enterprise Funds, and expenditure information is included only for your review. The Enterprise budgets will be adopted on December 11th with the rest of the budget. A rate study is currently being worked on to set the 2024 rates. Based on the expenditure budgets, rate increases will be in line with the projections of previous rate studies which supported the larger increases in the recent past, followed by more sustainable future increases in the two to three percent range. The rate study will be presented to the Budget Committee in October. Final Utility rates will be approved as part of the Fee Schedule on December 11th. Capital Improvement Plan. The city formally adopts an annual Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) that is updated on an annual basis. The 2023 update is being worked on and will be presented to the committee in October. The 2024 CIP will also be approved at the December 11th meeting. The CIP is a planning document only and approval of the CIP does not constitute approval of any expenditures. Long Lake Fire Budgets. As required in the Fire Services Agreement with Long Lake, the 2024 Operating and Capital budgets City of Orono Work Session 11 Sept 2023Exhibit A - Budget Introduction Page 2