FY2013 Duluth Budget to be Adopted
Adoption of proposed FY2013 city budget on agenda for June 11 Duluth City Council meeting.
The Duluth City Council was scheduled to adopt the proposed FY2013 budget during its meeting at 7 p.m. Monday, June 11. The new budget goes into effect July 1, 2012, and continues through June 30, 2013.
The draft General Fund operating budget totals $20.4 million, a 6.5 percent increase over the amended FY2012 General Fund budget of $19.2 million.
City Manager Tim Shearer presented a budget summary at a public hearing on the budget during the council’s May 14 meeting. His summary included the following highlights by department in the proposed FY2013 budget:
Public Safety
- Iron Sky Camera system.
- E911 will interface with Gwinnett County for reduced dispatch time.
- Adds part-time records tech.
Public Works
- Changes Maintenance Worker I from part-time to full time.
Planning and Economic Development
- Comprehensive Plan 5-year update.
- Completes Unified Land Development Code.
City Clerk
- Reallocates employee time to provide full-time City Hall receptionist to better serve the public.
- New Data Backup/Disaster Recovery System to restore city operations.
Parks and Recreation
- Hires Maintenance Worker I.
- Brings baseball leagues in-house.
- Expands programs in Festival Center and at W.P. Jones Activity Center.
Capital improvement projects highlighted by Shearer in the FY2013 budget summary included:
- Hospital Connector Design and Right-of-Way
- W.P. Jones Activity Building
- Boat Ramp at Rogers Bridge Park
- Buford Highway Medians Design
- SR 120 Realignment Design
- Paving Bunten Road Park Trails
- Western Gwinnett Bikeway
- Hill Community Sidewalks and Drainage
- Road Resurfacing
In order to balance the revenue and expenses in the General Fund budget, the city plans to use $3.7 million in prior year reserve funds. The city is continuing to maintain a four-month reserve, about $6.8 million.
The FY2013 General Fund budget also includes about $175,000 in contingency funds for the mayor and council to allocate for emergencies or unexpected expenses.
The tax millage rate will be set probably later in June after the city receives and reviews its tax digest from Gwinnett County. An anticipated decrease of slightly over $700,000 in property tax revenue has been budgeted for FY2013.
Duluth’s complete FY2013 budget amounts to $73.5 million. This includes the General Fund, Capital Projects, Other Funds and Stormwater Utility Funds. Because the city’s budget is balanced, an equal amount of expenses are budgeted.
Capital Projects account for $50.4 million in FY2013 compared to $9.4 million in FY2012. The difference is the result of the city’s changing the way it budgets capital projects. Instead of budgeting for the cost of a capital project anticipated in a year, the entire cost for the length of the project has been budgeted.
The amended FY2012 budget benefited from a one-time payment of $2.4 million from Gwinnett County as the result of the Service Delivery Strategy settlement. The FY2013 budget includes $972,808 in SDS settlement funds. The city will continue to receive payments from the county for five to seven years.
Duluth taxpayers will see a drop in their tax bills of about 1.6 mills as a result of the SDS settlement.
A copy of the draft budget is available for viewing at www.duluthga.net. Charts depicting anticipated revenue and proposed expenses in the FY2013 budget accompany this article.
DavidE
10:55 am on Monday, June 11, 2012
Capital improvement projects:
Hospital Connector Design and Right-of-Way
W.P. Jones Activity Building
Boat Ramp at Rogers Bridge Park
Buford Highway Medians Design
SR 120 Realignment Design
Paving Bunten Road Park Trails
Western Gwinnett Bikeway
Hill Community Sidewalks and Drainage
Road Resurfacing
How many of these are actually needed? I only see 2, the last 2 are maintaining current infrastructure. The rest can and should be delayed until the city can maintain the current infrastructure correctly and properly. They need to concentrate on maintaining vs selling the citizens out for any grant they can get, or just to get an award.
The city received a financial transparency award, they then kill the citizens budget committee and change their accounting methods. Coincidence? I think not.
Stop trying to impress the ARC and others outside Duluth, your salaries are paid by the people of Duluth, you should be serving us, not special interests, or yourself. If you can't serve the citizens of Duluth, you need to go elsewhere.
Back to the basics is all I ask for, stop the stupidity in City Hall.
DavidE
10:59 am on Monday, June 11, 2012
Also,
The amended FY2012 budget benefited from a one-time payment of $2.4 million from Gwinnett County as the result of the Service Delivery Strategy settlement. The FY2013 budget includes $972,808 in SDS settlement funds. The city will continue to receive payments from the county for five to seven years.
Duluth taxpayers will see a drop in their tax bills of about 1.6 mills as a result of the SDS settlement.
If we will see a drop in our tax bills, then isn't the $2.4 million ours? We should receive that back from the City, it is our money that we overpaid to the county.
Dusty Graham
12:38 pm on Monday, June 11, 2012
I'm also confused about how the SDS strategy works. I mean, if I saw someone get mugged, and I stopped the mugger, would I be entitled to keep the money for myself?
According to my notes (I was the only citizen to attend the budget work sessions, we've discussed the issues with how the meetings were advertised in another article), the Council has earmarked $200,000 to retrofit the Old City Hall block to include a grease trap so that they can attempt to lure restaurants into the spaces currently occupied by FYI and Accessorize Again. Of course, this will make the City landlords competing with city business owners who have vacant restaurant spaces to lease, will displace at least two current downtown businesses, and does so with money collected from these very business owners.
Another $200,000 has been earmarked for use to purchase land in the downtown area so that the City can lure the Gwinnett Library system to build a bigger building and relocate downtown. Needed when we're over $3 million in the budget hole? I think not.
My favorite moment of the meetings was when the Mayor doggedly wore down the Council and won $2500 for landscape improvements for the roundabout. It was especially relevant because this was happening at the same time that Mr. DiSpain was trying to get the city to honor its word and replace what they destroyed during road construction.
Things to ponder...
Dusty Graham
12:41 pm on Monday, June 11, 2012
Almost forgot..
$170,000 for Wayfinding signs. "Welcome to Duluth", fancy signposts, think Norcross.
A nice to have, but really necessary given the state of our budget?
DavidE
2:55 pm on Monday, June 11, 2012
City Hall needs some wayfinding signs, they appear to be lost.