Trimmed down for positive figure

For City of Denison staff and elected officials, the current budgeting process may be known as the year of the sharp pencil.

After the preliminary 2024-2025 budget figures were compiled, the general fund budget was out of balance by approximately $500,000.

Trimming of the budget took place over time, and by the March 19 city council meeting, the general fund budget was down to $28,000 in the negative, which meant that without further trimming, cash on hand in that amount would have to be used to balance the budget.

After the March 19 meeting, the pencils were sharpened again, and at the April 2 meeting, City Clerk Jodie Flaherty announced that the general fund balance was a positive $16,300 and the overall budget was in the positive by $230,336.

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Flaherty and City Manager Jessica Garcia thanked the department heads and Councilwoman Jennifer Zupp-Smith for their work in trimming next year’s budget.

“We went through line by line on some of the (departmental) budgets,” said Flaherty.

“I feel that we tried to spread cuts across everybody equally and look for what was actually needed,” said Zupp-Smith.

Councilman Greg Miller said at the April 2 meeting that he hopes each department can stay within the budget they’ve been given.

A public hearing on the budget was set for a special city council meeting for 5 p.m. on Tuesday, April 23.

For fiscal year 2024-2025, the estimate of property taxes to be collected is $5.2 million and total revenue and other sources are estimated at $12.5 million. Total expenditures and transfers out are estimated at $12.26 million.

The property tax levy on regular property will be $18.86269 per $1,000 assessed valuation and the ag land levy is $3.00375. For the current fiscal year, the city’s regular property tax levy is $19.05138. The current ag land levy is the same as the levy proposed for the next fiscal year.

The projected ending fund balance for fiscal year 2024-2025 is $5,784,124 while the ending fund balance for the current fiscal year is projected to be $5,553,788.

The current fiscal year (2023-2024) began with a fund balance of $6,008,692, which means that cash on hand of $454,904 is projected to be needed to balance this year’s budget.

At the March 19 council meeting, Flaherty and Garcia spoke about a call they had with the city’s bond counsel on that same day, on the need to balance the budget or have a positive balance. Garcia said this would affect the city’s bond rating. She reported at the April 2 meeting that the city had an A rating for bonding.

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