Alexander council approves $1.6 Million budget for 2019

The Alexander City Council approved a budget for 2019 totaling an estimated $1,623,115.00 in revenue for the general fund. Of that, $880,510.00 of sales tax revenue is transferred to the police, fire and parks departments leaving the general fund with $742,605.00. The budget was approved during the council’s December 17 meeting and goes into effect January 1, 2019.

Not quite half of the general fund’s revenue, $315,083.00, goes towards the salaries of city hall employees, elected officials and two retirement funds for all city employees. The amount for the retirement funds is $144,523.00. Also in the amount for salaries is $9,600.00 for the pension of former Mayor Shirley Johnson. There is a projected surplus for the general fund of $154,764.01.

Total expected revenue for the police department is $368,367.00. Most of that will come from the department’s share of a city one-cent sales tax totaling an estimated $285,225.00.

Expenses in the department are estimated at $349,296.00, Of that, $290,680.00 is for the salaries of eight officers (which includes the chief and assistant chief). There is an estimated surplus of $19,071.00.

Revenue for the fire department in 2019 is estimated at $548,691.00. Of that $495,290.00 will be generated by a one-cent city sales tax plus the department’s share of a second one-cent sales tax.

Expenses are estimated at $$548,325.00. The total amount for expenses includes salaries for ten firefighters (which includes the fire chief, assistant fire chief, etc.) estimated at $359,658.00. There is an estimated surplus of $366.00.

The parks department is expected to receive an estimated $134,854.00 in revenue for 2019. The department’s share of a city one-cent sales tax is expected to be at least $100,000.00. Besides revenue from park rental fees, another $26,254.00 will be transferred from the general fund to the park fund to repay an illegal transfer of funds, which occurred in 2014 during the Michelle Hobbs administration.

Expenses are estimated at $106,705.00. A salary of $33,800.00 has been set for the department’s only employee. There is an expected surplus of $28,149.00.

The street department is nearly totally funded by the city’s share of the state fuel tax, which is estimated to be $215,000.00 in 2019. After including property tax revenue from Pulaski and Saline counties and interest on income, the estimated revenue for the street department is $241,501.00.

Total expenses are expected to be $238,446.00, which includes $101,400.00 in salaries for the superintendent and two employees. There is an estimated surplus of $3,055.00.

The one dollar amount missing from the budget is the remaining carryover of unspent dollars left in the various department bank accounts. Those numbers won’t be known until the last bank statements for 2018 are posted. That means the 2018 budget could go through one more update either in January or February.

The next regular meeting of the Alexander City Council will be held on Monday, January 21, 2019 at 6 PM in the courtroom at city hall. The public is invited to attend.