City Administrator: Most of city's $2.7 million in additional 2017 spending will have future revenue to offset it

Decorah City Administrator Chad Bird says most of the $2,710,593 in additional city spending during the 2017-2018 fiscal year will have offsetting revenue in 2018-2019.

Decorah City Council members will meet at 5:30 Monday evening at City Hall for a work session that includes discussion of the budget amendment for 2017-2018, which will come up for a vote next Monday, May 7th.

The 2017-2018 budget approved by the city council last April called for $10,854,872 in expenditures for city government, but the amended budget shows $13,475,465 in city spending.

Bird says any budget figures are being set 18 months ahead of time, so it's hard to know exactly when an expenditure will happen.  For instance, major street projects might have big expenses to pay before the city receives state or federal funding.  The 2017-2018 city budget had expenses related to the city's work during flooding, but the city is still waiting for funding.

Not all expenditures were expected, however, Bird says.  For instance, when the city separated its IT program from the combined city/county IT program, it incurred additional expenses from having to buy its own computer equipment and having to pay the county for the city's previous use of IT equipment.

All these additional expenses--both expected and unexpected--mean the city's reserve fund balance, which had been at $4,226,861, is now at $2,716,879 instead.  There has been much discussion lately about the lack of a reserve fund for the city's water utility to cover unexpected expenses.  The city itself does not have a budget line item for unexpected expenses, but Bird says the overall reserve fund is used that way.

Additional details of the budget changes are available at the City Clerk's Office at City Hall.