After reading Jeff McKinney’s article on nky.com we think that there is a little more to the story.
If a couple of council members had not spoken up and a few citizens in the community had not taken the mayor to task, we believe Alexandria would have had the $182,000 deficit budget that was originally presented.
Some think it’s time for the mayor to start delivering on some of the other campaign promises that he voiced during the campaign.
The article can be found at this link.
Alexandria erases red ink from new budget
nky.com • Written by Jeff McKinney • 4:27 PM, Jun. 10, 2011
ALEXANDRIA - Unexpected lower costs for road improvements and employee health benefits will allow the city of Alexandria to post a balanced budget for the coming year instead of a projected deficit.
Mayor Bill Rachford said Friday that after the Alexandria City Council's meeting on June 2 the city received final figures for road projects and employee benefit costs that were "significantly lower" than first anticipated.
He declined to elaborate on the figures until council votes on its fiscal 2011-12 budget on Thursday. Council had first reading on the budget June 2.
At that time, council projected a deficit for next year's budget of more than $182,000.
Rachford said he, the city's management team and the finance committee of city council has since gone through the budget with "a fine-tooth comb" to reduce expenses everywhere they could.
"That effort will enable us to balance the new fiscal budget to about $3.8 million," he said.
Rachford said that included cutting everything from spending on fuel to office suppliers.
The city initially projected expenses at $4.1 million for the new budget, up $157,245 from the prior year.
Rachford said the difference in the revised budget than the one presented at first reading is city officials now have finalized numbers.
Rachford said the changes have been sent to the city's six council members to review before their next meeting.
He said the city will still post less revenue in the new budget at $3.82 million, down $125,000 from the prior year.
He said revenue will drop as the city collects less money from property taxes, payroll taxes and insurance premium taxes on homes and vehicles.
But Rachford said the latest changes also mean the city will have a larger carryover than expected from the current budget to the new budget.
He said the new carryover number will be slightly higher than the $101,000 council originally projected.
Rachford said the revised budget means "an adjusted salary increase for city employees." He declined further comment.
The mayor said earlier that expenses were expected to be higher largely because of a merit raise of up to 3 percent for city workers, higher costs to maintain roads and higher pension costs for city workers.
The city initially projected expenses at $4.1 million for the new budget, up $157,245 from the prior year.
The mayor said he hopes that all council members will vote for the revised budget.
The proposed budget presented on June 2 drew concerns from council members Barb Weber and Joe Anderson.
At the time, Weber said she will not vote for the proposed budget in its current state, mainly objecting to the up to 3 percent raise for city workers and some departmental budget increases.
But she said Friday that she has seen changes in the budget and will likely vote for it.
"I will vote for it unless there are any changes made to the revised budget as submitted," Weber said.
