Minor deficit remains after council approves city budget

With little fanfare, the Scotts Valley City Council voted to approve the annual city budget for the 2013-2014 fiscal year at its Wednesday, June 19 meeting.
There were few, if any, surprises in this year’s budget — which went into effect on Monday, July 1.
City Manager Steve Ando said that revenues for the new fiscal year were projected to be somewhat higher that last year, due mostly to an increased number of construction projects, and the fees for the city that come with them.
“We’re estimating more development for this year than we had last year,” Ando said. “With more construction, you’re going to have more impact fees collected.”
The city’s general fund spending for the new fiscal year is budgeted to be $8,208,155 — a slight decrease from the previous year.
At a budgeted cost of more than $6.8 million, the largest single cost for the general fund is in salaries and benefits — more than half of which is for the city’s police department.
The budget reflects a $358,000 deficit in the general fund partially brought on by the city serving as the successor agency to the now-defunct redevelopment agency, Ando said. But that number is down from closer to $1 million in the short term, he said, because of the first of three annual $750,000 payouts from the city’s successful lawsuit for back taxes against Santa Cruz County.
Overall, all facets of the city’s business projects to draw in $14.7 million in total revenue — of which the general fund is only a part — this fiscal year, against a $15.4 million in expenditures. For a complete breakdown, visit www.scottsvalley.org.
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