The start of the new fiscal year has brought good news for Jefferson City officials.
At the Finance Committee meeting Thursday, Finance Director Bill Betts reported January sales tax receipts, which reflect the November reporting period, came in above projections in all three categories.
The city's 2015 fiscal year began Nov. 1. Last month, officials reported revenues from the 2014 fiscal year had come in about $1.5 million above projections.
The city's 1 percent general sales tax came in $203,563 ahead of projections in January receipts, with both the half-cent capital improvements tax and the half-cent parks sales tax coming in roughly $101,700 above projections.
The budget projections are based on actual receipts from the same month in 2014.
In other business, Shiela Pearre, chief accountant for the city, said auditors would arrive next week to begin the annual audit of the city's finances. Pearre said the city has made substantial changes in financial policies in the last few years and hopes to see a marked improvement shown in the final audit.
In previous years, audits have noted deficiencies with how the city handles grants but, in the past two years, city officials have implemented a number of changes to improve procedures.
All of the financial documents from this month's Finance Committee meeting are available at www.jeffcitymo.org/finance/FinancialReports.html.