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City juggles figures
to meet budget
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[DEC. 10, 2003]
Les Plotner, the city
treasurer, and Melanie Riggs, the city secretary, have been working
on pulling past figures together to estimate present and future
levies. Some areas, such as the pension fund and liability
insurance, were increased; other areas were decreased in an attempt
to meet budget.
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"We moved levy amounts around a little
bit," Plotner said. There is "no way to get more money into that
General Fund unless we rob from Peter to pay Paul," he said.
The reason they have had to do this is
the decreasing revenues coming in. Plotner gave one example in a
loss in the Road Fund. Last year the Road Fund levy was $98,000. The
maximum allowable levy by law this year is $59,000, a decrease of
$31,000.
The road and bridge tax levies are
subject to the amounts that the East and West Lincoln townships
approve first, and then the city gets a 50 percent cut of that.
The Illinois Department of Insurance
regulates by suggestion how much to levy for Police and Fireman
funds. Last year, 2003, the Policeman Fund was $411,124 and the
Fireman Fund was $314,365. We were under-levied on those funds by
$111,000 and $53,000, respectively, making a combined shortfall sum
of $164,000.
These are figures that are hard to plan
for because they vary from year to year. Plotner could only say to
the council, "If you levy this amount, you'll be in a heck of a lot
of trouble."
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One possible suggestion that Plotner
had is to consider upping the city's share of telecommunications
taxes. This tax has been used by other cities to increase their
revenues, and it might be good for Lincoln to consider it during
these tight times.
The tax is most easily seen on your
telephone service bill, though it is on other service bills also,
such as cable service. It is the simplified municipal tax. Plotner
said that his November Verizon bill showed a 26-cent charge for the
month. Lincoln is at only a 1 percent tax on this. Many cities are
at 3 percent, and up to 6 percent is allowable.
Just for Lincoln there are 112 services
registered that are collecting this tax.
Right now it is estimated that the 1
percent tax will bring in $80,000. You can multiply that figure by
any number from two to six to see how much revenue might be
generated by raising the city's percentage, which would be
$160,000-$480,000 annually
One other
comment Plotner made was that most other provider revenues are
coming in on the downside this year.
[Jan
Youngquist] |
