PA 4390 Public Budgeting THE CITY OF BLAIR NEBRASKA BUDGET ANALYSIS PROJECT Section 1: Background: Blair is a growing community in Eastern Nebraska that was incorporated in 1869. Blair sits on the Missouri River and is at the crossroads of Highway 75 and Highway 30. Blair has the best of both worlds, a small town living with easy access to big city activities just being approximately 30 miles north of Omaha. As more businesses come into the Blair area the population is growing. Blair is home to Woodhouse Ford, Sid Dillon, Cargill and its affiliates, Con-e-Co, Shopko, and Wal-Mart just to name a few businesses. Blair also has 4 elementary schools that have Kindergarten to 3rd grade, one school for 4th and 5th graders, a junior high which has 6th thru 8th grade and the high school. Demographics: According to the webpage www.blairnebraska.com the population of Blair is 8336 people. According to the 2010 Census the population was 7990. This is an increase of 4.33%. In 2010 the median household income for Blair was $55,654 and in 2013 it has raised to $64,737. This makes the per capita median income $28,829. The results of these median incomes are because of a 96.3% employment rate in 2013. According to the 2010 census the median value of owner occupied housing units was $143,400 which is 14.35% higher than the median of Nebraska overall which was $125,400. Government Organization: Blair has a city council made up of 8 members from 4 wards. They are elected on a staggered basis serving four year terms. Several of the current council members have served multiple terms. The city council has executive, legislative and administrative authority according to the city’s website www.blairnebraska.org . The city also has a mayor who is the deciding vote on any issues of the city council if they should tie. Blair’s mayor and council appoint the city administrator and the assistant city administrator, who oversee the running of the city departments and report to the city council. Budgeting Process: The City of Blair runs on an annual budget. The current fiscal year began on October 1, 2012 and will end on September 30, 2013. The department heads submit budget requests to the City Administrator in July who then puts together a budget to submit to the city council for approval. This process takes awhile as once the department heads submit their proposals, if the administrator wants to make major changes to the proposals he confers with the department heads to try to make the adjustments as easy as possible. Once the budget is submitted from the administrator to the council members, it is reviewed and determined if they feel that there are any changes that need to be made. Once all the changes have been made the budget there is then a public meeting where the public can voice their opinions on the budget. Once this is done then the Council makes any additional changes and approves the budget. They try to have this process completed by the end of the August council meeting so that it can go into effect the first of October. This year there was a unique situation when the budget was approved. It was approved on the condition that the city sales tax measure passed in the November elections. The current city sales tax had been on a Sunset clause which meant that it had to be approved every 10 years. The tax measure was to remove the Sunset clause so that the city would know that it had the higher sales tax rate to plan long term funding of projects such as a new library, swimming pool updates and street repairs. Because the vote was not until November the department heads could not fill any new positions that were approved or make any major purchases right away. Once the sales tax passed, they were allowed to use the approved budget. If the sales tax would not have passed there would have been budget changes that would have to take place. The budget for the City of Blair does not contain any performance information and it does not include any forecasts for future years. However, the information that is turned in from the department heads to the city administrator do contain performance information to help him determine the budget request that he turns over to the city council for the approval but they do not receive that performance information and it is not made public. Transparency: The City of Blair tries to be transparent when making up the budget. They have a budget hearing and provide a budget summary to let the public voice their opinions and suggestions on the current budget proposal. They also make a copy of the budgets available upon request to anyone that requests them. They do not currently have a copy of the budget online but when they are requested they will print a copy within a day of the request. Section 2 Revenue and Expenditure Trends for the City of Blair The City of Blair’s proposed budget for 2012/2013 is $36,602,702.00. In 2011/2012 the budget was $32,602,252.00. For the current budget the largest fund is the Culture and Recreation fund, with the next largest being the Public Works- Street fund. The previous year the General Fund was the largest area in the budget. Expenditures When comparing the current budget with the budget from previous years you find that Blair’s budget increased overall by a total of 12.27 %. The culture and recreation department had the largest increase being by 454.69% and the department with the biggest cut was the Public Safety-Other with a cut of 88.93%. The section of the budget that had the least change overall was the Proprietary Function Funds with a cut of .07%. Of the 9 sections or departments that are listed on the budget, four had a reduction in funds from 2011 to 2012. These included the General Government, Public Safety-Other, Community Development, and the Proprietary Function Funds. Public Safety-Police and Fire, Public Works-Streets, Public Health and Social Services, Culture and Recreation and Miscellaneous all saw increases in funding. In both years the Proprietary Function Funds took the largest percentage of the budget, 58.41% in 2011 and 51.99% in 2012. The Public Safety-Other department received the lowest amount of the budget in 2012 and in 2011 Public Health and Social Services received the least funding from the budget. 2011 Actual Table 1 City of Blair Expenditures 2012 Budget Change % of Total Amount % of Total $ Change % Change General Government $6,878,874.00 21.10% $3,507,922.00 9.58% (3,370,952.00) -49% Public Safety- Police 2,088,121.00 and Fire Public Safety- Other 225,830.00 6.40% 2,189,471.00 5.98% 101,350.00 4.85% .69% 25,000.00 .07% (200,830.00) -88.93% Public WorksStreets 2,052,851.00 6.30% 4,758,836.00 13.00% 2,705,985.00 131.82% Public Health and Social Services 88,984.00 .27% 102,940.00 .28% 13,956.00 15.68% Culture and Recreation 900,825.00 2.76% 4,996,800.00 13.65% 4,095,975.00 454.69% Community Development 1,189,310.00 3.65% 738,856.00 2.02% (450,454.00) -37.88% Miscellaneous 135,704.00 .42% 1,254,375.00 3.43% 1,118,671.00 87.45% Proprietary Function Funds 19,041,753.00 58.41% 19,028,502.00 51.99% (13,251.00) -.07% TOTAL 32,602,252.00 100% 36,602,702.00 100% 4,000,450.00 12.27% Amount Expenditures by Department One of the reasons for the large increase of allocation of funds for the 2012 budget year in the Culture and Recreation department is that the city is planning on updating the swimming pool and making a larger library so they are shifting funding for when they are ready to start these projects. There are also several street projects that need to take place and that is why there was such a large shift in funding for the 2012 year in the Public Works-Streets department as well. Revenues The city has 18 different sources of revenue that help to make up the funds to cover the city’s budget. The City of Blair’s revenues for the 2012 budget was $38,313,818.00 which is a 19.33% cut from the 2011 revenues of $47,496,378.50. There were several areas where the revenues for 2012 took a cut. Some of the larger cuts were in debt services which were a 62.66% cut and the Economic Development (840) which took a 54.11% cut. In the 2012 projected revenues though there is a projected 70.94% increase from Sales Taxes. The revenues from the CDBG Reuse Funds have the least change from 2011 to 2012 with only a reduction of .09%. The General Fund is the next source of revenue with the least amount of change with an increase in 2012 of 1.20%. City of Blair Revenues 2011 Proposed 2012 Proposed Amount % of Amount General Fund 7,760,394.00 Total 16.34% Debt Service 1,767,135.00 Street Change $ Change 7,853,172.00 % of Total 20.50% 3.72% 659,799.00 1.72% (1,107,336.00) -62.66% 2,828,749.00 5.96% 3,421,040.00 8.93% 592,291.00 20.94% Rescue Squad 251,408.00 .53% 176,811.00 .46% (74,597.00) -29.67% Sales Tax 97 Vote 2,282,225.00 4.81% 3,901,258.00 10.18% 1,619,033.00 70.94% Health & Benefit Insurance Self Insured Health Insurance Wastewater 79,587.00 .17% 94,183.00 .25% 14,596.00 18.34% 1,075,300.00 2.26% 1,048,425.00 2.74% (26,875.00) -2.50% 1,926,571.00 4.06% 2,121,499.00 5.54% 194,928.00 10.12% Water 27,737,751.50 58.40% 18,160,655.00 47.40% (9,577,096.50) -34.53% Lodging Occupation 52,886.00 .11% 58,385.00 .15% 5,499.00 10.40% Tax CDBG(ED) Fund 410,100.00 .86% 10,100.00 .03% (31,000.00) -7.56% Donated Funds 23.874.00 .05% 27.653.00 .07% 3,779.00 15.83% Capital Outlay Reserves 10,591.00 .02% 12,561.00 .03% 1,970.00 18.60% CDBG Reuse Funds 8,762.00 .02% 8,754.00 .02% (8.00) -.09% Economic Development (840) Community Redevelop TIF 1 Keno Funds 963,338.00 2.03% 442,102.00 1.15% (521,236.00) -54.11% 59,563.00 .13% 39,037.00 .10% (20,526.00) -34.46% 140,551.00 .30% 153,065.00 .40% 12,514.00 8.90% Community Redevelop TIF 2 Total 117,593.00 .25% 125,319.00 .33% 7,726.00 6.57% 47,496,378.50 100% 38,313,818.00 100% 92,778.00 % Change 1.20% (9,182,560.50) -19.33% One thing that could be a foresight of what the City of Blair is expecting in business expansion is the fact that they are expecting a 55.11% reduction in revenues for the 2012 budget. There is also a 34.46% cut in expected revenues from community redevelopment. This is very interesting as Blair has been a growing community over the last few years. However, with the closing of Dana College some businesses that had considered coming to Blair have held off but with the possible sale of the campus to Midlands Lutheran College there is a chance that the reductions in revenues may turn themselves around and we may find that in the following years there will be an increase in revenues from those particular categories of revenues. Conclusion Over the last couple of years the City of Blair has endured the flooding of the Missouri River and the closing of Dana College. However, during that time period overall the city’s budget has remained pretty consistent, with a gradual increase in spending and a gradual cut in revenues. However, as the city works towards selling the Dana Campus property and makes the repairs to the waste water and water plant and to the roads in that area, that were caused by the floods I think there will be an increase in some of the revenues and a cut in some of the spending. Blair is a growing city and has potential to expand its income resources by bringing in new businesses to draw people to the community. Public Sector Budgeting (PAD 4223) Budget Analysis Project Fall, 2016 A. Assignment Each student will analyze the budget and budgetary trends for a local government (city or county government). The paper will be formatted as follows: 1. Overview and budget process and format 2. Expenditure and revenue trends 3. Conclusion and Recommendation Below are the due dates for the components of the project: 1. 2. 3. 4. Selection of government: October 15 (email notification to TA) Draft of the first section (overview and budget process/format section): November 2 Draft of the second section (expenditure and revenue trends section): November 16 Final paper: December 8 The primary source of data will be the budget of the government that you are analyzing. You may be able to get copies of these from the government. Many governments now also have budget documents posted on their Web site. You may also want to review Census data for sociodemographic information about the area. Finally, you might search newspaper indexes to find information on major recent budget issues. If you work with one or two partners, you may divide the project up in a number of different ways. Generally, all of you will receive the same grade for the project. However, it is possible that grades will vary if one member has not performed adequately, or if one student’s performance is exemplary. There is no “cookie-cutter” approach to this project. Each government is different, so the focus of the analyses will vary somewhat. The following sections are intended to provide guidelines for you to consider, but your paper may be quite different from this. You are expected to organize the report in the manner best suited to the entity you are studying. B. Overview and Budget Process/Format The paper should be written as if you were briefing a new budget director for this government. The new director is moving here from another part of the country, and knows very little about the area or the budget issues. This section should first include a brief overview of the state or locality, including factors/trends that may affect the budget (e.g., location, population, income levels, primary types of employment, etc.) This section should also address the budget process and the format of the budget. You may include the following, for example: 1. 2. 3. 4. Is the budget annual or biannual? What is the fiscal year? Brief description of the process Form of government (e.g., a city could be operated by a council-manager, mayorcouncil, or commission form) 5. Elected officials (number and term of legislators, executive) 6. Do citizens appear to play any role in the budget process? 7. What budget format is used? 8. Does the executive (e.g., Mayor or Governor) have veto authority? 9. Does the budget include performance information? If so, does it appear to be primarily related to workload/activities, or results/outcomes? 10. Does the budget include forecasts for future years, and/or data for prior years? 11. To what extent do you find the budget document to be a readable communication tool? 12. What type of budget information, if any, is included on the government’s web site? 2
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