Treasurer: city budget OK after tax payments

Treasurer Gary Cantrell said Monday that collections for February "looked grim" until the end of the month, when suddenly, citizens came in at the last minute to turn in their money.

As a result, the city received some $13,000 more than it had projected for last month, Cantrell said.

For the entire fiscal year, the city is down some $110,000 in property tax collections, but "we've made it up with almost everything else," Cantrell said.

The city's property tax collection is "right about what we budgeted," Cantrell explained and the total of the budget "is right on track."

Last June, when the city's budget was passed, Shelbyville had a deficit of $566,220 and Cantrell said he anticipated that would remain the same throughout this year.

"Individual items don't hit right when you expect," and some of the city's sales tax revenues have been higher than expected as well, which should cover the $110,000 discrepancy in property tax collections, he said.

"We were worried until the last couple of days that there would be a shortfall," Cantrell said. "But the people came through."

Cantrell said that the cash receipts being $110,000 down at this point is "not tragic," and that so far, Shelbyville "is about two tenths of a percent off our budget revenues, and that's it."

"Our budget seems to be pretty much right on," Cantrell said.

Expenses are also "a little bit to the good" and the city "should have slightly less in the deficit than anticipated," although the cost of the demolition of two buildings on East Depot Street would cut into that figure, he said.

"When you build your budget, you anticipate some unanticipated things ... across the whole city, there is going to be something," Cantrell said.

The treasurer said that "in the world of cash flow," February is an important month and Cantrell says the important thing is to end up at the end of the year with enough cash to carry the city through Christmas, because between July and December, the amount of cash flowing into the city is much less.

"You want to be able to make payroll without having to take money out of other places," in the city's accounts, he said.

As for the budget for next year, Cantrell said the city will have to reorganize its money "and see where we'll stand for the new year."

"The new year is going to have to have a balanced budget," Cantrell said. "Because we don't want to get into trouble."