AG 2002 10 21 (Regular) - Laserfiche WebLink

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the maintenance of W. W. Flowe Park. All costs of this fund are allocated.among the Electric, Water, Sewer, Aviation and General Funds based on percentages derived from a cost allocation method. Aviation Fund: The Aviation Fund budget for 2002-2003 totals $8,842,521 compared with. $9,520,026 for the current 2001-2002 budget. The Aviation budget is comprised of $5,095,172 in operating revenue, non-operating revenues of $2,250,000, and a transfer of $1,497,349 from the Electric Fund. The decrease is due to the retirement of debt service and conservative fuel sales estimates. Golf Course Fund: The Golf Course Fund budget, in its fifth full year of operations, totals $2,135,557 for 2002-2003. The Golf Course Fund is comprised of operating revenues of $1,400,603, non-operating revenues of $410,679 and a transfer from the General Fund of $324,275. There is no significant change in the Golf Course Fund Budget from 2001-2002 to 2002-2003. TOUGH DECISIONS FOR CHALLENGING TI/VIES STATE FISCAL CRISIS As mentioned earlier, the withholding of dollars due the City of Concord for reimbursement and state collected local revenues has dominated the budget process. Governor Easley's action meant the City of Concord lost ovei' $1.7 million in budgeted revenues in FY 2000-2001. As a result, the City has frozen selected monies in departmental budgets and has used fun. d balance to make sure this potential loss will not result in a budget that is out of balance at the end of the fiscal year. In other words, the City took steps to mak, sure its revenues, even if the reimbursement money was not forthcoming, matched its expenditures, This sounds simple but it has not been that simple for our State government. Increases in services, reductions in taxes and over zealous revenue projections have led to the State budget woes. Local government officials live and work with those generating the revenues to pay for their services. I would dare say that if this happened at the local level, there would be a much greater call for accountability. Unfortunately, it has resulted in part of responsibility for paying for the mistakes at the State level being pushed to city and county governments. Many have even made the absurd comment that because the state government revenue projections have been overly optimistic, that local governments should have to pay because they have fund balances and the state does not. Local governments are at the mercy of the state because of the severe limitations the state places on our ability to generate revenues, yet the state shows little mercy to the local governments it controls. It is up to the General Assembly to decide if their revenue and cash flow problems will impact Concord's FY 2002-2003 budget and state collected local government revenues. There are several proposals that address both State and local revenue sources. Regardless what happens with Governor Easley's proposed lottery and the suggestion of moving up the implementation of the half cent local option sales tax, there needs to be serious thought given to provide local governments with a menu of local option revenues to choose from that elected officials can use to match local needs and economies. Even if approved, the enactment of the half-cent sales tax will depend on the action of the Cabarrus County Commissioners. Thus, there is a real possibility that the City of Concord will lose over $1.6 million or even more in this budget year. This represents three cents on the property tax rate. If this happens this budget basically defers the decision to make fundamental changes to increase revenues and/or decrease services to next fiscal year in hopes there will be a permanent resolution to this problem.