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City finance staff reports modest surplus; Board of Education remains overbudget
Summary
At a joint meeting, a city staff member reported a projected city general-fund surplus while the Board of Education still shows several million in overexpenditures; the council was reminded the Board of Finance-adopted budget and mill rate will go to a joint meeting next week.
Diane, a city finance staff member, told the City Council and Board of Finance that the city is projecting a modest revenue surplus and continued close monitoring of the school budget.
"Overall, there will be a revenue surplus that I'm estimating at about 1 and a half million dollars," Diane said, adding later that, "conservatively, 2 and a half to $3,000,000" could be available on the city side if current trends hold.
The monthly financial snapshot presented to the council showed revenues generally in line with projections and stronger investment earnings than expected. Diane said encumbrances on the city side were about $4,900,000 at the time of her report and that departments were being asked to review and clear unnecessary open encumbrances.
On the Board of Education side, Diane reported continued overexpenditures. "At the time that I wrote this, they were 9,100,000.0 overexpended on their report," she said, noting that the board's own internal snapshot had shown $8.9 million in more recent materials—figures that have fluctuated in recent reports.
Diane also said the city had not yet received the second half of the excess cost grant, expected to be about $1,300,000, and that Bristol was expecting an unspecified share of a $40 million legislative appropriation that could add roughly $1,000,000 or more to the local education funding picture.
Council members were reminded that the Board of Finance adopted a budget the prior week. "It's 242,660,000.00. It's roughly a 5.28% increase on expenditures," Diane said, and she noted the approved mill rate increase from 31.85 to 33.75 would be considered at a joint meeting the following Monday, May 19, at 5:30 p.m.
Diane told elected officials that auditors (CLA) had been reappointed for three years and field work was expected to begin with a week in August and two weeks in November.
The council asked questions about intergovernmental grants and the degree to which federal funds affect the general fund. Diane said state grants totalled $47,580,000 in the current budget—primarily the ECS (Education Cost Sharing) grant—and that federal grants in the operating budget were negligible at about $143,000; most federal grant money, she said, comes through the Board of Education.
The council did not take formal action at this presentation. Diane said staff will continue monitoring revenues and expenditures and will update projections as year-end approaches.
