Summary

General Fund is the City’s general operating fund and is used to account for all financial transactions except those required to accounted for in another fund. Principle sources of revenue are property taxes, licenses and permits, intergovernmental revenues, and various charges for services such as refuse collection fees. A few of the primary expenditures in the General Fund are public safety (including police and fire services), general government, public works and debt service.

General Fund Revenues vs. Expenses

General Fund Revenues

• Licenses and permits are budgeted for an estimated increase of $1,000,000 more than the FY 2022 amended budget, which is due to continuing

development within the City and the associated permits issued. However, the FY23 recommended budget amount of $5.12M is slightly less than the $5.22M FY21

Actual.

• Charges for services increased by $172,961 mostly attributable to a $20 per month residential refuse collection fee that went in to effect in FY 22 following

procurement of a new vendor.

• Intergovernmental revenues increase by$312,804 due mostly from a $162K FEMA Fire Grant and a $68K increase from State Aid

{ Includes $2,133,250 for fire services, and $65,000 for building inspection services provided to the Town of Port Royal.

General Fund Revenues - Property Taxes

•Represents the largest revenue source of the City, or approximately 42.45% of the total revenues.

•Taxable assessed value of real property for tax year 2022 is estimated to be $92,046,161 , a 4.2% growth over the actual ending values for tax year 2021.

•Taxable assessed value of personal property is estimated for tax year 2022 to be $10,430,602, a 2.7% growth over the actual ending values for tax year 2021.

•Vehicle taxable assessed value is estimated for tax year 2022 of $6,287,393, a 1% increase over tax year 2021.

•Total Taxable Assessed Value is estimated at $108,764,156, an overall increase of $4,097,039 from FY 2022.

•The growth in taxable assessed value is 3.9% higher than the prior tax year. The estimated millage cap is 2.25% based on CPI and growth in population. The

adopted budget includes 2.08% increase in the operating millage and a decrease in the debt millage as follows:

•The FY 2023 Adopted Budget includes:

•An adopted operating mill of 58.9. This is an increase in property tax operating millage of 1.2 mils or an increase of property tax for operations of $130,516.

•The increase in mil value is only applied to the operating mil, raising the operating mil from 57.7 to 58.9 mils.

•The adopted debt mil decreased from 18 mils in FY 22 to 17.3 mils in FY 23 for a total of .07 sufficient to cover the debt service payments.

•An adopted reserve of 2 mills to continue to fund for aging infrastructure.

•Removal of the .05 emergency mil which was used to cover the COVID emergency.

•A total adopted millage rate of 78.2 mills and no increase to the overall millage.

General Fund Expenditures

General Fund Expenditures by Department

• Salaries in the general fund increased $799,068 which is primarily a result of the inclusion of a 3% merit allocation for each department to support performance

evaluations of personnel along with recommendations form a compensation study that went into effect in December of 2021. The total increase in salaries for merit allocations totals $329,857.

• Benefits in the general fund increased $361,489 which is primarily a result of a 1% increase in State Retirement, a 5% increase in health insurance, and changes to benefit selections of personnel.

• Operations increased by $640,400 or 10% and are highlighted as follows:

{ Non-Departmental budget increased by $67K compared to FY22 budget, mostly attributable to cover the cost of utilities on the Bridges Building, economic

partners, and redevelopment incentives from annexations but remains $63K below FY 21 actual.

{ City Manager Department increased $56K for services related to providing transparent meetings, executive recruiting costs, and website improvements.

{ Finance Department increased by $68K mostly due to business license monitoring contract, new copier lease, tuition assistance for Finance Employees,

training conference for ERP system and consulting services for the transition of the new Finance Director.

{ Public Works increased $418,709 to cover the cost of residential garbage collection and an expected increase on the 6th year of the energy performance

contract related to various City facilities.

{ Capital increased by $327,620 to include police officer training simulator and security improvements to the Public Works complex.

{ Planned use of committed fund balance for capital equipment totaling $352,550.