Mayor offers draft 2016 budget

$30 million projected in general revenue

The Jefferson City Council has begun work on the 2016 budget, projecting roughly $30 million in revenue for the general fund.

At the budget committee meeting Monday, Mayor Carrie Tergin presented her draft budget, which included a 2 percent across the board pay increase for city employees, increased funding for the Cultural Arts Commission and funding for improvements at the old Missouri State Penitentiary.

Tergin proposed $15,000 for improvements at MSP, which would be matched by the Jefferson City Convention and Visitors Bureau. A letter from CVB Executive Director Diane Gillespie said funds would be used to provide new or additional lighting in Housing Unit 1, 3 and 4, noting the project would require approval from the state.

Tergin's draft budget also increased funding for the Cultural Arts Commission from $6,000 to $8,000 at the commission's request.

"It's definitely a hard-working commission," Tergin said. "They've done a lot of fundraising on their own."

A fare increase for the city's transit system also is included in the draft budget, even though the increase was recently rejected by the City Council for this budget year and Tergin said she had been unaware that was in the draft budget, assuming it had been removed after the council vote in June.

"That is not the choice I would have made," Tergin said.

In June, the council rejected a proposal to increase regular transit fares from $1 to $1.50. The same proposal would have increased the fare for HandiWheels from $2 to $3 and raised reduced fare, which is offered for those over the age of 60, people with disabilities and Medicare cardholders, from 50 cents to 75 cents.

The exact same proposal is back in the draft budget and, if approved, would generate about $60,000 in additional fare revenue per year. Any proposal to increase transit fares requires public hearings before the council can vote.

Tergin also included a $10,000 increase to the Old Town residential incentive program, bringing its total city funding to $55,000. The program provides assistance to those buying homes in Old Town and the east side for certain properties.

Tergin also funded a training officer position within the Fire Department, two part-time assistants in the Human Resources Department and several new vehicles for the public works and police departments.

After Tergin went through the major points of her draft budget, Monday's council discussion focused solely on revenues for the 2016 fiscal year. After several adjustments to the mayor's draft, the council approved revenue projections at roughly $30.3 million, while the draft expenses remain at $30.5 million.

Council members reduced the projections for property tax revenue, contributions and donations (which is the amount paid to the city by Allied Waste for damage to city streets from trash collectors), and the carry over surplus. The carry over surplus was nearly $55,000 to be taken from the city's fund balance, which would have been used to help balance the budget, primarily because of the unexpected transit fare increase that had been built into the budget. Because of concerns of the city's fund balance being below the stated policy of 17 percent of the operating budget, council members opted to zero out that line item.

The draft budget projects $10.2 million in sales tax revenues for the 2016 fiscal year.

The council now will continue to meet as a budget committee, with the next meeting set for 5:30 p.m. Thursday at City Hall where officials will begin to look at expenses by department. Because of the changes to the revenue projections, the council is already roughly $200,000 in the negative and likely will have to cut other areas within the draft budget to make up the difference.

The full draft budget is available at jeffersoncitymo.gov/government/budget.php.