Carryover boosts the start of street work, mayor says

CELINA - The city began the year with a comfortable general fund carryover of $3.4 million, allowing for an earlier start to much-needed street repairs.

Mayor Jeff Hazel disclosed the carryover at Monday's regular council meeting during his annual state of the city address, which touched upon Celina's financial stability, community and economic development, capital projects and other noteworthy events in 2015.

"The city of Celina remains committed to assuring its citizens and businesses that their government is fiscally sound, responsibly managed and proactive in reinvestment in basic services and infrastructure," Hazel read from a prepared statement.

The general fund pays for the day-to-day operations of the city. At council's request, the city will continue to maintain a minimum carryover of $2 million to cover emergency or unanticipated expenses throughout the year.

That leaves about $1.4 million to potentially allocate to other funds. Hazel told the newspaper that council members at their next regular meeting on Feb. 8 may see legislation to put $600,000 - the savings realized by switching to insurance provider Anthem - into the streets fund.

"I think that would be a great way to boost it," he said.

Officials will then determine which roads to restore. Administrators have been adamant about replacing all underlying utility lines, if need be, before resurfacing streets.

Starting the year with $600,000 in road funds would allow officials to begin street projects earlier than anticipated this year, he said. They weren't expecting any funds to be available for street repairs until later in the year when revenue starts rolling in from the 0.5 percent income tax.

City voters on Nov. 3 approved a ballot measure allowing money from the levy for police and fire services to also fund much-needed street repairs.

Hazel has stressed that only the revenue collected from the 0.5 percent additional income tax starting in January may be used for street repairs. All money still being collected from income earned prior to 2016 will continue to be earmarked for the police and fire departments, he explained.

The income tax, originally approved as a seven-year levy in November 2010, also was extended five years to Dec. 31, 2022. The change took effect Jan. 1.

Revenue collected in 2016 will flow to a restricted fund so officials can better track how it's spent.

In 2015, the city's general fund took in $8.65 million and spent $7.3 million, about 15 percent less than projected for the year.

"Celina City Council unanimously passed a balanced budget for the fourth year in a row in 2015," Hazel said. "Additionally, in conjunction with the mutual goal of debt reduction through recommendation, council members unanimously approved ... to reduce and/or pay off the remaining balances of debt, such as $520,000 on the 2005 wastewater refunding debt and accelerating the final payment of $96,000 owed on the fire department's aerial truck."

Also, the city's combined total of $5.43 million in income tax last year - $3.63 million from the 1 percent tax, 3.8 percent more than projected, and $1.8 million from the 0.5 percent tax - are on target with projections.

All of the city's accounts together in 2015 took in $48.3 million in revenue and had expenditures of $45.2 million, Hazel said.

"Overall expenses were approximately 12 percent lower than projected while actual revenues were approximately 6.5 percent higher than expenses," he added.