01-25-2016 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING Monday, January 25, 2016 7:00 o’clock p.m. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Page 8 of 10 12. GENERAL FUND BUDGET INFORMATION (continued) Olson stated it is not anticipated that the amounts included in the report will change significantly prior to the closing of the year. Current projections have revenues at 104.43 percent of budget and expenditures at 95.4 percent of budget. In net dollars, revenues are projected to exceed expenditures by $684,817. Olson stated one of the big reasons the City is over budget on revenues is due to the amount of new construction and remodeling that is happening within the City. The building permit line came in at $416,173 over what was anticipated and is 122.4 percent of budget or $120,130 higher than in 2014. Other governmental revenues finished the year at 118.3 percent of budget. A major portion of the overage is the result of higher than anticipated police state aid. That money comes from a surcharge that is included on a person’s car insurance. Charges for service were at 105 percent of budget. The primary reason for this overage is due to the construction related revenue lines, including pass-through charges, which were all over 100 percent of budget and add up to approximately $120,000. Other minor categories that were over 100 percent of budget include other miscellaneous and the golf course. Olson noted the building permit revenues came in at $415,000, which is almost double from 2010. Loftus noted the City issued 1,754 permits in 2015, which is up 11 percent from 2014. Zoning applications were around the same as 2014 at 80, but the City issued 63 permits for new homes, which is a 47 percent increase over 2014. Loftus stated Staff increased the City’s permit revenue budget by 13 percent in an attempt to keep up with the additional building activity and still remain conservative. Loftus stated the City experienced a big increase in percentages for new home construction, which makes for a very busy planning department. Olson stated the City can expect the increase in building activity to last for a few more years but that it should decrease after that since the City is running out of land for new development. Olson stated as it relates to expenditures, three departments are over budget. The assessing budget is over budget due to an increase from Hennepin County that was not totally anticipated, the golf course is over budget, and the planning department is over due to an increase in the amount of construction activity, which resulted in the expenditures also being increased beyond what was originally anticipated. All other departments were either at or below budgeted amounts. Olson noted at the end of the year the City had $20,000,000 invested, with the majority of it being invested in CDs. The City’s investments earned a total of $173,123.41 in 2015. This compares to $154,795.97 in 2014. Interest earnings are allocated to each fund based on monthly fund balances. The City currently has $3.9 million in its operating budget. Olson stated budget adjustments for the departments that are over budget will be prepared for the Council’s approval at the February 8 meeting. The overall expenditure budget will not be increased and the increases to the individual department budgets will be offset by budget reductions to other departmental budgets. Cornick asked what happened to the Drug Task Force money in 2015.