The Jefferson City Parks and Recreation Commission will begin going over a draft of the 2014 budget next week, and the earliest draft is projecting a nearly $300,000 drop in sales tax revenue.
At the commission meeting Tuesday, department director Bill Lockwood said he finished the first draft of the 2014 budget Tuesday morning and expected it would go to Mayor Eric Struemph today. However, it is only the earliest working draft, he said, and he is not necessarily ready to recommend it for commission approval just yet.
"My sense is I'm going to have to go back and cut on both revenues and expenses," Lockwood said.
The draft budget projects sales tax revenue to be about $4.63 million for the next fiscal year, a small drop from the $4.66 million projected in the current fiscal year. Lockwood said the department is not budgeting any grant revenue and is following the city's example of not giving employees a pay increase in the next fiscal year.
"It's a lesser budget than it has been in past years," Lockwood said.
He said plans are to begin budget workshops with the commission in the next two weeks with possible commission approval of the budget at the June meeting.
The local parks sales tax figures were up for the month of May compared to the same month last year, he said, but year-to-date the figures are down. Lockwood said if the trend continues, the department may be looking at a potential shortfall of $21,000 or $22,000, which may lead to certain purchases being stalled toward the end of the fiscal year.
He noted that the sales tax numbers have varied greatly and the potential shortfall very well may be made up in returns from another month.
"I don't think it's anything to be alarmed at, just something to be watchful of," Lockwood said. "It bears watching month-to-month."