93.3 KWTO Keeping Watch Over the Ozarks
The Springfield City Council received a presentation at their Tuesday lunch session regarding the upcoming budget.
City staff will be presenting the budget to the Council in a series of Lunch sessions throughout the month of May. The timeline as designed by staff has a first reading of the budget at the Council’s regular session on June 1. (That meeting is Tuesday night rather than a normal Monday night; May 31 is Memorial Day so the city is closed for business.)
“While our sales tax growth over the last year is very strong compared to budget, the budget projection was for sales tax to decline by 6%,” City Manager Jason Gage said. “When we compare against the 2019-2020 actual sales tax collected, this year’s sales tax revenue is estimated to grow roughly 2.5%.”
The presentation to Council Tuesday showed that general fund revenues for Fiscal Year 2020 was three percent below budget. The city also picked up over 1,000 new jobs and $290 million in new capital investment from Kraft, Convoy of Hope, and a new airline maintenance base at the airport.
Gage said the city’s general fund is the primary focus of his budget processing because it provides most of the high-profile city services.
“My first priority in developing the FY22 budget relates to preserving employee jobs and addressing employee recruitment and retention. Employee recruitment and retention is the foundation for implementing City Council’s priorities of public safety, economic vitality, and fiscal sustainability,” Gage said.
The next Tuesday lunch will review revenues; General Fund budget highlights come the following week.