Budget Talks Tuesday

This Tuesday we’re having a special meeting of the Council in order to focus on the budget. The meeting will start at 6 pm and like our other meetings you can participate using Facebook Live.

According to the report, the budget represents the Council’s “desire to provide a high level of service to residents and the business community of Lake Forest while conservatively managing the City’s finances. The proposed budgets are balanced and consistent with the City’s fiscal policies.”

The major initiatives reflected in the draft Fiscal Year 2018-19 Operating Budget include:

• Construction of the Lake Forest Civic Center
• Implementation of Five Year Strategic Plan initiatives such as payoff of the City’s outstanding bond debt, investment in pavement and infrastructure, and development of new parks
• Updating the Lake Forest General Plan
• Delivering the projects in the Fiscal Year 2017-19 Capital Improvement Project’s Budget.

The City’s proposed total budget consists of $61.1 million in revenues and $83.5 million in total expenditures ($25.9 million of expenditures is one-time capital projects).

The proposed General Fund operating budget consists of $49.0 million in revenues, $47.1 million in General Fund operating expenditures, and $16.6 million in net transfers out (funding of capital projects). The Housing Authority proposed operating budget contains $892,100 in operating revenues and $134,900 in operating expenditures.

At the end of Fiscal Year 2018-19, General Fund revenues over expenditures will increase by approximately $1.9 million. Reserve funds will remain fully funded at required levels (i.e., 40% of General Fund revenues).

Here are some highlights –

REVENUE

• Property taxes are expected to come in at an all-time high - $40.9 million compared to $38.7 million last year – an increase of 7.7%
• Sales tax are expected to grow by 3.3%
• Hotel taxes are expected to grow by 7%
• All other taxes are expected to grow by 4.2%

EXPENSES

• Some Departments are expected to stay the same (Council, Attorney, Clerk) or decrease (Manager, Community Development) but most will increase (Police, Community Services, Management, Finance, Public Works).
• In sheer numbers, the biggest increases will be in Finance ($6.2 million) and Police ($0.8 million). The large increase in Finance is due to the pay-off of our bond which I initiated a few months ago. Paying off the bond early will save us $1,000,000 in interest payments.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dr. Jim Gardner is on the City Council for Lake Forest where he serves as Mayor. You can check him out on LinkedIn and/or Facebook and you can share your thoughts about the City at Lake Forest Town Square on Facebook. His Twitter handle is @DrJimGardner. His comments are not meant to reflect official City Policy.

Dr. Gardner has office hours every Tuesday from 4 pm to 6 pm at the City Hall. In addition, he holds a town hall meeting every quarter. The next meeting will be May 17 at 7 pm at the Lake 1 Clubhouse (Ridge Route).