City Budget: Where does money go?

• Graph of proposed 2011 budget

Budget breakdown How will Alexandria’s $10.16 million budget “pie” be sliced? Here’s the proposed breakdown, from biggest to smallest: Police – $2.3 million General government – $1.93 million Streets – $1.38 million Debt retirement – $723,644 Parks – $701,225 Runestone Community Center (RCC) – $564,930 Fire protection – $524,218 ALASD – $500,211 Capital improvement fund – $250,000 Building department – $221,710 Street equipment fund – $168,000 Street paving program – $140,000 Airport – $117,760 Recreation – $113,800 Police equipment fund – $78,000 Animal control – $67,150 Storm sewer – $65,000 Park equipment fund – $60,000 Firefighters Relief Association – $54,794 RCC floor bond tax abatement – $40,000 Engineering – $35,000 Planning commission development – $32,000 RCC equipment fund – $24,000 Fire equipment fund – $20,000 Sanitation and waste – $16,510 Employee benefit – $15,000 Emergency management – $8,480

Talk about it

Here are some highlights of Alexandria’s proposed 2011 budget of $10.16 million:

• The overall levy is $5.29 million, an 8.46 percent increase from 2010’s $4.88 million levy. This is well under the 19 percent levy limit increase allowed by state law.

• Significant changes on the expense side of the budget include: general government – $15,000 for making building repairs at City Hall, $80,000 in payments to townships for tax reimbursements in annexation areas, $7,500 for an intern in the planner’s office; police department – the addition of a dispatcher/receptionist, utility/ backup generator costs for the new police station, a community service officer; parks department – $5,000 for utilities at the new park department building; other changes – reinstatement of employee benefit and planning commission development funds that had been eliminated because of local government aid (LGA) unallotment in 2010; $65,000 for a street paving program to address deteriorating street conditions; and a 20 percent increase in various equipment funds to reflect higher replacement costs.

• Significant changes on the revenue side of the budget include: a $125,000 reduction in the franchise and delinquent taxes budget, primarily because of decreased natural gas sales; and a $446,000 increase in intergovernmental revenue because of reinstated LGA.

• The budget reflects a 2 percent increase in employee wages. Also, planned salary adjustments for department heads, which were delayed in 2010, are now included in the 2011 budget.

• $250,000 is included for capital improvement projects that have been delayed because of past LGA cuts.

• The retirement benefits the volunteer firefighters receive for every year of service will increase 2 percent – from $6,190 in 2010 to $6,314 in 2011.

• Actual taxes paid by property owners depend on market value, tax capacity and the budgets of the taxing authorities. In 2010, the city’s share of property taxes for a typical residential property represented about 27 percent of the total property tax.

• The city’s budget committee interviewed about 20 individuals or organizations during the budgeting process.

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