Jefferson City annual budget process begins

Mayor proposes $64.6 million budget

The John G. Christy Municipal Building is pictured in Jefferson City.
The John G. Christy Municipal Building is pictured in Jefferson City.

The Jefferson City Budget Committee has begun the process of adopting the fiscal year 2021 city budget.

On Monday, Mayor Carrie Tergin presented her proposed budget draft to the committee, which is made up of all 10 Jefferson City Council members.

The overall proposed mayor-approved budget for fiscal year 2021 is $64,610,654.02, a decrease of 0.88 percent from the FY20 adopted budget.

Of that $64.6 million total, approximately $32.8 million is in the projected general fund budget.

The FY21 mayor-approved general fund budget includes a 0.26 percent, decrease, or $85,419.39 in revenue from the FY20 adopted budget.

Revenue projections for the FY21 general fund are decreased 0.69 percent compared to the actual FY19 general fund total revenues. FY19 is the most recently completed full year, as FY20 is ongoing.

Story continues below budget document link.

The FY19 actual total revenues included $159,185 in grant revenues for a sidewalk project on Missouri Boulevard, according to Tergin's letter to the budget committee. When excluding grants, the FY21 revenue projections show an increase of 0.30 percent.

The proposed budget includes a 2 percent salary or wage adjustment for all full-time employees, except the city administrator, and all part-time employees with benefits. The increase will have an estimated cost of $556,171 across all funds, with an impact on the general fund of approximately $443,653.

The mayor also proposed some budget re-allocations to pay for five new police vehicles in the FY21 budget.

To purchase one vehicle, $55,000 would be reallocated from JCTV, with the remaining amount used to purchase equipment needed for livestreaming and recording meetings.

For the other four vehicles, the mayor is recommending re-allocation of $120,000 for police field operating equipment and $20,000 for PD information systems, within the Capital Improvement Sales Tax Fund.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the city received $2.3 million in federal grants through the CARES Act. The proposed budget recommends $650,000 of those grant funds be used for the city's transit operations.

By using these funds, the budget lowers the general fund subsidy for transit to $579,710, compared to $1.14 million in FY20.

CARES grant funds will be used to reduce the general fund subsidy for transit over the next three fiscal years.

Something similar is recommended for the Jefferson City Memorial Airport, using $170,000 received from flood insurance proceeds.

The proposed general fund subsidy for the airport is $79,111 compared to approximately $250,489 in FY20.

City financial policies require an unreserved, undesignated general fund balance at the end of the budgeted year. The balance has to be, at minimum, 17 percent of expenditures.

The current general fund balance reserve for the FY20 year end is estimated at 17.04 percent, and the proposed FY21 budget fund balance is 17.09 percent.

The committee will continue budget discussions through several virtual meetings in the coming weeks. The next budget committee meeting will take place at 5:30 p.m. Aug. 6 via WebEx. Details to join the meeting can be found on the meeting agenda.

Once the budget is adopted by the city council, it will go into effect Nov. 1, 2020.