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Controller reports near‑budget tax collections and proposes budget changes ahead of May 18 joint meeting
Summary
The controller told the joint meeting that current tax collections are at 99.5% and recent receipts (permits and conveyance taxes) have improved the outlook; staff will propose removing a $500,000 firefighter contingency and using $750,000 from the workers' comp reserve before final budget adoption.
The controller reported that tax collections were tracking close to projections and that several revenue lines have come in above earlier estimates, improving the city’s fiscal outlook ahead of formal budget adoption.
"We're at 99 and a half percent on current tax revenue," the controller said, and added that since the report was distributed the city has collected roughly $150,000 additional current and prior tax receipts, about $70,000 in building permit revenue and approximately $120,000 more in conveyance taxes. Investment income is projected at $2,600,000, higher than budgeted.
On the expenditure side, the controller said the city and the Bristol School District face roughly a $3.4 million deficit that staff are tracking as they finalize year‑end positions, and noted the fiscal year is expected to be "very close" to balancing. The controller also reported that the last half of the ECS (excess cost) grant arrived about $200,000 less than estimated.
Ahead of the joint meeting scheduled for May 18, the controller said the Board of Finance had adopted a proposed general fund budget of $257,980,635, a $15.3 million (6.31%) increase over the current year. Staff will recommend two adjustments for the joint meeting: removing $500,000 previously set aside in contingency for 16 firefighters, and applying $750,000 from the workers' compensation reserve (allocated $510,000 to the city side and $240,000 to the Board of Education). With those changes, the controller said the general city increase would be about 1.39% and the overall increase would be about 5.9%.
The controller said staff will distribute a presentation to members before the joint meeting and that members should expect those recommendations to be voted on at that session. No formal vote on those joint‑meeting recommendations occurred during this session.
