As we look towards closing out our books for 2010 I’m gratified to note that staff has been very diligent about keeping their budgets in check. It was a tough year in a lot of respects with changes in state funding, done in 2009 and affecting operations in 2010.
Taking a quick look at expenses we finished out the year with an unaudited reference of 88% of budget. Each department carried its own balance but every department came in under budget, some more than others. In accomplishing this, every department head worked towards a more efficient approach in operations but I think the effort really involved all employees. Some efforts were in making due with what we have. Some efforts involved creative thinking. Some were really ones of a conscious effort of “is there a need or a want”. And others were strong statements, in effect of, we can’t afford to go beyond this point. Most of these savings will continue with changes in operations. Some include deferred maintenance. These issues do catch up to you in time but for now we’re making it work.
On the revenue side of things we came in with unaudited revenues to budget figure of 99%. A lot of the proposed revenues we anticipated were down. These include things like fees for services. Tax revenue was also down somewhat with some properties not making their payments for whatever reason. Where most of the benefit was received in revenues was with Delinquent Taxes. Here we saw the start of a changing economy where properties are changing hands and delinquent taxes are being paid. I would assume this trend will continue but it is difficult to know for sure what the market will bring. The crystal ball is still a bit foggy on these details.
With the new year we have new beginnings and a new budget to work with. The winter season has been already showing stress with the snow plow budget. Managing these expenses means 1 inch snows don’t get attention but periodic 1 inch snows become problems which need to be dealt with. I spoke earlier about the budget for 2011 which is less than 2010’s budget. We’ll continue to do what we can to manage with what we have. Accomplishing these expenditure ratios will be difficult to do in 2011. Our goal however is to work within our means and continue the excellence in efficiency as we move through 2011.
