RES 97030 - Laserfiche WebLink

Honorable Mayor and Members of the Council: BACKGROUND The purpose of this report is to present the status of operating and capital improvement budgets. Actual revenues and expenditures to date have been analyzed and compared to budgeted revenues and expenditures, respectively. Taking seasonal variations into account, projections for the next six months were then made to enable staff to update the budget for the entire fiscal year. Furthermore, since staff is in the process of preparing the upcoming two-year (1997-98/1998-99) operating budget and capital improvement program (CIP), the midyear update of the current year's projections provides a good starting point for preparing the two-year projections. OVERVIEW OF SECOND QUARTER 1996-97 Most CIP development related revenues are essentially on target with projections. Building Inspection and Plan Check revenues are well ahead of projections, but Public Works Inspection Fees estimates are being revised downward. Property taxes and Hotel taxes reflect a significant increase over last year's projections. Net salary savings in the General Fund due to untilled positions is $760,000. However, this amount is offset by increases in overtime, utility costs, contract services, equipment, and costs associated with the Happy Valley Specific Plan and West Las Positas studies. DISCUSSION OF GENERAL FUND REVENUES Appendix D (starting on page 33) details all General Fund revenues by line item, comparing original projections with the recommended new projections. Appendix C (starting on page 23) summarizes the revenues by major type. A discussion of major revenues follows below. Property Taxes Proper~y tax revenue projections are being increased by $359,000 to $13.4 million, based on updated projections received from the County on March 19. Estimated transfer tax revenue projections of $454,000 are $50,000 more than previously projected. Sales Tax While staff had not yet received sales tax information for the Christmas quarter when this report was being prepared., staff is preliminarily increasing the revenue projection by $200,000 to $13 million. This figure will be reviewed shortly, when the Christmas quarter information is available. If necessary, an additional adjustment will be made in the upcoming third quarter financial report. Sales Tax is a very difficult revenue to project because information is so late in coming from the State, and because so many adjustments (often material) are made as a result of cities disputing SR97:110 2