Mayor Robert Reichert presented a $71.2 million general fund balanced budget, which includes no change in tax rates, during a special meeting of Macon City Council on Tuesday.
“While that is a lot of money, it is 2.6 percent less than last year,” he said.
The budget covers the last six months of Macon’s existence, and the first six months of the Macon-Bibb County consolidated government, which will take over in January 2014.
Spending is detailed for the six months of the fiscal year that begins July 1, but after that, the University of Georgia’s Carl Vinson Institute of Government will help the city and county combine their existing budgets for the first six months of the merger, Reichert said as he stood behind a lectern, with city department heads sitting in rows behind him.
The general fund budget is $1.9 million less than the previous one approved last June, but it’s $5.7 million more than the revised fiscal 2013 budget, cut down over the past two months primarily because of a drop in sales tax receipts.
The overall budget comes to $136.3 million, including about $25 million from the special purpose local option sales tax that voters approved in 2011, and 10 smaller city funds and divisions whose money comes from various sources, including federal and state governments.
Part of the SPLOST money is from bonds sold last year, but the tax is expected to bring $10.9 million into the city over the coming year, more than half of it from people who live outside the city, Reichert said.
“This is another benefit of being the hub city of the Middle Georgia region,” he said.
Property taxes are expected to bring in $18.7 million, or 26 percent of revenue, while non-SPLOST sales taxes are projected to contribute $20.6 million, or 29 percent of revenue.
On the spending side, 72 percent of the general fund will be go toward pay and benefits, with the bulk of that being spent on police and firefighters. Pension costs are up by $1.3 million this year, but both of the city’s pension plans are better funded than the state and national average, Reichert said.
The proposed budget includes just $3.1 million for new capital projects, including buying new public-administration software for the consolidated government; but the SPLOST will cover another $14.3 million in voter-approved projects, such as the new emergency radio system and working to turn Second Street into a pedestrian-friendly boulevard, Reichert said.
The budget includes about $2 million from the general fund that goes to outside agencies such as Macon Transit Authority, Middle Georgia Regional Commission, NewTown Macon and other groups. The city benefits from their services and expertise, Reichert said.
Again there’s $25,000 for the Five by Five neighborhood cleanup program, which will include partnerships with agencies such as Habitat for Humanity, he said.
The council referred the budget without immediate questions to the council’s Appropriations Committee, which will begin line-by-line debate Wednesday. Those hearings are expected to conclude June 7. The budget must be ratified by June 30, the end of the fiscal year.
