Archive for the ‘general fund’ Tag

COT Has Been Spending Reserves Each Year Since 2006

To understand where you are, sometimes it is useful to look at where you have been. With the recent approval of a 15% property tax increase to plug the hole in the COT’s General Fund, Tallahassee Reports decided to take a look back.

The first task was to look back at the budgets over the previous years to try and determine if there was an explanation, hidden somewhere in all those numbers, for the tax increase that was required in 2010 to provide the citizens of Tallahassee with the most basic governmental services.

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City Government Burden on Tallahassee Economy Growing

Tallahassee Reports has completed an analysis that indicates that the COT government spending has increased as a percentage of the Tallahassee’s Gross Domestic Product from 2005-2008. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is the measure of all goods and services provided.

Using Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) data on Gross Domestic Product and City of Tallahassee expenditure data, the analysis indicates the COT GDP grew 11.6%, while COT government expenditures increased 33% from 2005 to 2008. (Government Expenditures includes all government funds.)

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Questions About Assistant City Manager Answers

On Tuesday, September 8th, Assistant City Manager Raul Lavin addressed several issues on The Morning Show with Preston Scott. Research by Tallahassee Reports indicates that answers given by Mr. Lavin on the deferred compensation and the electric utility reserve funds are not consistent with information contained in publicly available documents.

Deferred Compensation

On the deferred compensation, Mr. Lavin said:

“It is my understanding that this came up as part of a charter review commission discussion about commissioner salaries and benefits and after that it was brought forward to the commission in a publicly noticed meeting[...]”

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COT Reserve Funds Exceeds $172 Million

With the Tallahassee City Commission taking a serious look at raising taxes and cutting services, Tallahassee Reports - and a number of other interested citizens – have begun to dig into the proposed 2010 budget.

Tallahassee Reports has focused its analysis on the City’s “Reserve Accounts.”  The City has reserve accounts for the General Fund, Electric Fund, Gas Fund, Water Fund, Sewer Fund, Airport Fund, and Solid Waste Fund.

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City Spending Increases Isolated to Three Areas

In our last report, Tallahassee Reports analyzed the expenditure trend of the City of Tallahassee’s $133,000,000 general fund over the period of 2005 to 2008.

The analysis indicated that expenditures over that period exceeded population growth to the tune of approximately $23 million. When adjusted for a inflation over that period, expenditures added approximately $12 million.

This report investigated what categories received the expenditures above and beyond population and inflation growth. The analysis indicated that three areas account for this increase in expenditures.

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The Budget Shortfall – Revenue Options

The recent revelation that the City of Tallahassee has a budget shortfall of approximately $7 million for the upcoming fiscal year has started a debate on how to best deal with this issue. Should the city commission raise taxes, cut services, or implement some combination of both?

In this article, Tallahassee Reports looks into one side of this debate by providing information about the various sources of general fund revenues. If the city decides to raise revenue to cover the short fall, the revenue will come from one of these areas.

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