Getting a handle on the city budget

Glasgow is a very small place. It is a third-class city with a population of 3,253. Twenty-seven of them are full-time city employees. Seven of them are elected city officials.

And yet the city's latest budget, adopted Oct. 19, runs to 60 pages. The budget has to produce all kinds of categories to satisfy the auditors and the state.  It explains the mill levy revenues. It traces the revenues and expenditures for 36 different funds for the past four years, plus the new 2009-2010 budget.

The funds range from the general fund, raised by mill levies, which is budgeted to spend $1,662,318 this year, and the sewer utility, which has applied for a state revolving fund loan of $4.8 million and has proposed expenditures of $5,952,148, down to the disaster fund, which has about $840 in it and no proposed expenditures this year.

Other funds are the special improvement districts that make assessments for street lights, the street maintenance fund and the solid waste fund. Some are grants, large and small. The $592,000 Department of Justice grant is major; the Safety Equipment Grant for Small Jurisdictions is more modest at $15,310.

There are a couple of trust funds, the Park Beautification Trust Fund, which will make about $2,450 this year, and the Roy M. Nelson Maple Tree Fund, which is dedicated to exactly what it says, planting maple trees. It has more than $40,000 in cash available. The city proposes to spend $1,500 of it this year.

The city will spend $730,000 for law enforcement, $500 of that for euthanasia of animals. Straight salaries for the officers will be $510,000, plus $100,000 for dispatch. The volunteer fire department budget is $81,000. City parks will spend $42,000; the Recreation Department will cost $309,000.

The five-year grand totals on the last page show a gradual increase in city spending, punctuated by a big figure for this year. In fiscal year 2005-2006, the city spent $3,331,000. Spending dipped to $3,000,000 the next year, then rose to $4,175,000 in 2007-2008. Last year it went down again, to $3,650,000. This year the final budget is $10,731,000.

Hold on, take a deep breath. City Clerk-Treasurer Stacey Amundson has the explanation. That figure includes the hoped-for sewer lagoon project funding. It authorizes the spending if the money comes through. Without it, Glasgow's bottom line for 2009-2010 is $5,540,000.

On the revenue side, $760,500 is from property taxes. The mill in Glasgow is worth $2,724 and the city has an authorized mill levy of 279.19 mills.
The city expects to receive $21,000 from oil and gas production, up 166 percent from the last budget. Our state entitlement share is $428,000. The swimming pool will bring in $17,500 in user and instruction fees. City Court fines are expected to net $35,000.

Maintenance for the amazing 32,000 miles of streets and alleys in Glasgow will cost $389,000, $56,000 more than the maintenance assessments bring in, but the City Council did not raise those assessments this year.

The water utility is a successful enterprise fund for the city. It will make $785,000 this year and spend $624,000. Disposing of solid waste will cost $267,000, but bring in $328,000

The city will receive nearly $60,000 in stimulus money under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

And don't forget bicycle permits. The city made $3 on them last year. This year expectations are raised - they estimate $5.