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Council hears quarterly fiscal update

Posted 5/14/15

With three quarters of the current fiscal year past the town is on track to finish the year with its books in balance – maybe even a little ahead.

Finance Director Craig Rudolphy gave the Town …

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Council hears quarterly fiscal update

Posted

With three quarters of the current fiscal year past the town is on track to finish the year with its books in balance – maybe even a little ahead.

Finance Director Craig Rudolphy gave the Town Council a fiscal update after the third quarter, which ended on March 31.

Rudolphy reported that revenue for the town’s operating funds finished the third quarter at 100.3 percent of budget.

The $10.5 million received came from state and local sales taxes, and state income tax.

Local sales tax accounted for $5.4 million, or 52 percent of the total revenue for the first nine months of the fiscal year.

Local sales tax showed an increase of 3.9 percent over the previous year.

There have been increases across the board in all sales tax categories with construction showing strength with a 13.1 percent increase over last year. The amount is still relatively small as construction continues to struggle coming out of the recession.

The total for the first three quarters is $663,455. Half of this money goes into the capital projects fund.

A bright spot through the recession, the sales taxes for restaurants and bars remains strong with an 8.1 percent increase over the first three quarters into 2014. The amount received was $487,942.

The local sales tax revenue of $2.9 million is up by 5.6 percent over the prior year, and it remains well ahead of the five-year average.

Telecom sales taxes are a fairly consistent revenue generator with just over $1 million for the first three quarters. This is .5 percent higher than last year.

While the revenue side of the picture is positive, operating expenditures showed an increase of 8.9 percent over three quarters, $10.2 million compared to $9.4 million the previous year.

Public safety contracts with the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office and Rural/Metro Corp. accounted to 49 percent of the expenses.

The greatest increases in expenditures came in Administration and Community Services departments.

The town’s share of Highway User Revenue Funds took a significant hit during the past fiscal year. For the first three quarters the HURF revenues were down 32 percent from 2014.

HURF revenues come from a share of gasoline taxes, which are distributed to communities based on population. The monies are dedicated to pavement maintenance and street department operations.

HURF revenue for the first three quarters was $1.6 million. The town spent $800,000 of that, with pavement management receiving the greatest share.

Rudolphy summed up his report saying that operating revenues and expenditures are trending favorably for the year.

*The current reserve fund balances remain acceptable for all funds.

*Revenues are ahead of budget and 6 percent higher than a year ago.

*Expenditures are under budget, but higher than last year.

*Pavement management will remain a priority using HURF money and vehicle license tax revenue.

*Local economic indicators remain stable.