The numbers have been crunched and the Fayetteville City Council on June 16 will hear the first reading of the FY 2012 General Fund budget proposal totaling $9.41 million. A decrease of $169,000 over last year, the FY 2012 budget continues the long-time hiring freeze, anticipates
a 6 percent decrease in the local millage rate and a slight increase in sales tax revenues.
Projections on the revenue side of the $9.41 million budget show a 6 percent decrease in the city’s tax digest, a 1 percent increase in local option sales tax receipts, a potential 2 percent increase in business taxes and no increase in franchise taxes, license and permits.
Projections on the expenditure side show a need to continue the years-long hiring freeze, a potential one-time employee incentive, $5,900 for election expenses, a 1 percent increase in operations and maintenance and a $47,000 increase in E911 services.
The number of city employees on the payroll continues to decrease. Full-time equivalent positions in 2008 — three years ago — totaled 163 compared to the 136 positions requested for 2012, a difference of 17 percent.
The largest portion of the budget is public safety at 67 percent, followed by public works at 10 percent and general government at 10 percent.
The council could have to roll-up the millage rate again this year to offset the decrease in the tax digest. That amounts to a tax rate increase to produce the same amount of revenue that earlier, lower rates brought in.
Fayetteville’s efforts to respond to the effects of the recession go back half a decade when city finance staff began recommending and the council approved various budget cuts long before Washington and Wall Street acknowledged the severity of the “economic downturn.”
The council’s July 7 meeting will be canceled. The second reading and likely adoption of the budget will be July 21.
