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REGULAR MEETING FEBRUARY 13, 2012 <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />stated that this is a great example of how even the smallest of our citizens can have a big <br />impact when they get involved by reaching out to their elected officials like members of <br />this Council and himself. Mayor Buttigieg advised of the City’s financial overview and <br />where we stand. He stated that this was the budget that was passed by the previous <br />Council and proposed by the previous Mayor, but it is the budget that we are all working <br />with. He stated that he will give an overview of where the money is and where it is <br />headed and what they are doing with it. Mayor Buttigieg presented a power point (a copy <br />of which is on file in the Office of the City Clerk.) He stated that there has been a lot of <br />interest expressed in transparency and he wanted to make sure that he gave this cut that <br />goes above the general fund budget that the Council may be accustomed to working with. <br />This takes in everything this is every enterprise fund from sewers to waste water, TIF as <br />well as the general fund itself. He stated that one piece may seem misleading if you were <br />not aware that they had a late arrival of property tax funds in 2008/2009. So you have to <br />take the average of those two areas. Mayor Buttigieg stated that bottom line is that they <br />have expenditures fully funded in line with the revenues that they hope to collect, but that <br />expenditure amount this year is budgeted based on conservative budget assumptions to be <br />higher than the revenue that comes in and he believes his administration will be able to <br />manage that number down to a lower number. Regardless, this is a fully funded budget <br />and reflects variations in TIF and other funds from year to year. Mayor Buttigieg stated <br />that the General Budget is balanced down to the last cent and has to be. He stated that he <br />expects revenues and expenditures will be in line still lower than they would have been <br />prior to the property tax caps kicking in. He stated that again the 2008/2009 revenue <br />numbers could be a little distracting but really think of the average of those two to get a <br />sense of where they stand, $64.3 million this year. Mayor Buttigieg stated that they have <br />substantial revenue coming in through what is classified as special revenue this includes <br />the motor vehicle highway funding which is up this year and public safety local option <br />income tax which is down this year and there is a little spike around 2010 when the city <br />received an urban development action grant or UDAG funding likely to be one time. In <br />the debt and capital project column is where you will find COIT and EDIT funding. <br />Enterprise funds have a much higher level of revenue this last two years that reflects <br />increases in the sewer rates which were required in order to comply with the federal <br />mandates for combined sewer overflow management. That is one of the single biggest <br />drivers that was reflected on the first page of the power point where they have revenue <br />and expenditure climbing. He stated that you will also see in Redevelopment what looks <br />like a real spike in 2010 as well as from 2008 to 2009, and stressed that it is the way that <br />property taxes were disbursed in an irregular fashion at that time. He stated that <br />Redevelopment revenue is down that has to do with our decision not his administrations <br />st <br />decisions but South Bend’s decision to retire the 1 of the South Side Development <br />Areas. A good example of how TIF can run its course and then those revenues can be <br />returned to other property tax users. Mayor Buttigieg stated that this is another cut he <br />wanted to show how some of these taxes and other funds are collected. Property taxes <br />remain the single biggest source of support even though those levels have been <br />constrained by State Legislation. Charges for services reflect wastewater and sewer <br />collections as well as such things as the fees for building permits. Local income taxes is <br />plugging a significant would be gap in property tax revenue. The $18.5 million dollars <br />includes Local Option Income tax as well as the EDIT and COIT funds. Mayor Buttigieg <br />stated that is how it comes in and here is how it goes out: The general fund allocation for <br />this year will be $64.3 million. He stated that they have allocations of $38 million in the <br />special revenue areas debt & capital projects funds account for $23 million. You will <br />notice a real increase in the enterprise funds again this is driven by an unfunded federal <br />mandate, which will ultimately be to the tune of about $500 million dollars to upgrade <br />our wastewater so that they no longer will have overflows in dry weather and wet <br />weather that would put us out of compliance with federal regulation. The Redevelopment <br />expenditures track the Redevelopment Revenues as was explained earlier. Mayor <br />Buttigieg advised of what applications these funds go to. Again when you zoom out from <br />just the general fund what you see is water and sewer accounts are most of the money <br />that flows through city accounts. However, this is generally not what you would think of <br />as discretionary funding; this is coming in on bills and is going out in day to day services. <br />Mayor Buttigieg advised regarding public safety if you take in everything that they <br />allocate to that including special funds it is actually bigger than the general fund itself at <br />$78.6 million dollars followed by Economic Development, Culture & Recreation and <br /> 5 <br /> <br />