Fayetteville City Council considered an ordinance to amend the FY 2009 General Fund, SPLOST Fund and Vehicle Rental Excise Fund at its meeting Thursday.
According to a presentation made by Lynn Robinson with the city finance department, the original budget for the General Fund was $10,588,146, decreased to $10,324,935 during the mid-year amendment, and is budgeted for $10,499,935 currently.
The fines and forfeiture revenues and municipal court dues and fees have been increased by an additional $130,000 from the midyear budget amendment.
Charges for services revenue increased by $45,000 and Public Works Department expenditures increased by $85,000 due to completion of LARP transportation projects in which the city received funds from DOT to offset project costs.
The electricity cost for the street lights in the Public Works Department have increased by $56,312.
Appropriation of unreserved fund balanced decreased by $96,312 from the midyear budget amendment to balance the General Fund budget.
The SPLOST fund was originally budgeted for $1,939,659 then increased to $3,034,275. In the current budget, the SPLOST Fund is set for $792,320.
Many SPLOST sidewalk and transportation projects have been adjusted to reflect a more actual cost and the remaining budgeted amounts will be moved to FY 2010 and continued.
The Vehicle Rental Excise Tax Fund was originally budgeted $60,000, amended to $57,000 mid-year, and is now $65,000.
The tax fund has increased by $8,500 since the midyear budget amendment.
“We’ve had a good year in light of the current economy,” said Robinson.
“We should credit the foresight of the city manager and city staff for foreseeing the recession two years ago and taking steps to adopt measures so as not to impact employees and the services we provide,” commented Al Hovey-King after Robinson’s presentation.
“Our main goal was not to start laying off employees or having furloughs,” replied Robinson.
Hearing no public comments, Council tabled the ordinance to amend the budget until their next meeting in November.
In other administrative matters, Council approved two ordinances to extend partial exemptions for local businesses.
The amendments to the Impact Fee Ordinance and the Water and Sewer Ordinance, originally adopted in November of 2008, will be renewed for six months. According to a memo sent from Don Easterbrook to City Manager Joe Morton, the amendments provide for a 50 percent exemption for “redevelopment and reuse of existing retail spaces resulting in higher uses requiring additional impact and sewer proportionate share fees (e.g. restaurants, medical offices, etc).”
“This temporary exemption was approved for a one year period in an effort to encourage the use of existing vacant commercial properties and help boost the local economy during the current economic recession.”
City Manager Joe Morton told council at the first hearing for the ordinances at Council’s Oct. 3 meeting that the extensions “could really benefit some businesses” in light of the current economic downturn.”
In new business, City Manager Joe Morton requested the Council approve an application for a land grant from the Georgia Department of Transportaion GATEway program.
If Fayetteville is selected for this highly competitive grant, the money will be used towards landscaping the medians on Highway 54 between Sandy Creek and Togwatee Parkway, and for the median immediately west of Togwatee Parkway.
Council unanimously approved the application, which is due Oct. 30.
Finally, several proclamations were made by Council at Thursday night’s meeting.
Council proclaimed Oct. 23 Lights on After School Day and this month After School Month to promote after school programs for school children.
Lights On Afterschool is a national celebration of these programs and their statistics report that “more than 28 million children in the U.S. have parents who work outside the home, and 14.3 million children have no place to go after school.”
“Afterschool programs provide safe, challenging, engaging, and fun learning experiences to help children and youth develop their social, emotional, physical, cultural and academic skills,” read councilman Larry Dell.
Council also proclaimed Nov. 1 as “Georgia Retired Educators Day” for retired teachers who “donate thousands of volunteer services and make invaluable contributions to the welfare of their respective communities across the state.”
Gail Purdue and Deborah Posey were in attendance to represent local retired teachers.
“I want to say what a privilege it was to teach in Fayette County,” said Purdue.
Additionally, Council proclaimed November 1 through 7 Homeless Awareness Week.
Homeless Awareness Week is a statewide campaign to educate Georgians about homelessness.
According to the campaign’s statistics, each year
over 70,000 children and individuals become homeless in Georgia and there are over 80 homeless people in Fayette County alone.
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