Mendon
council hears budget news: 'Better than most'
By Greg
Boyles
March 16, 2009 | MENDON A review of the 2008-09 budget
took place at the City Council meeting Thursday, where
Mayor Michael Morgan announced that, although funds
are tight, the city is still in on track to keep a balanced
budget.
"Some individual budgets such as fire department and
administration are tight fire department has already
spent 90 percent of its budget but generally speaking
our budget is not looking bad. It’s looking better than
most other cities around here,” Morgan said.
Still, Morgan stressed the importance of frugality
as a precaution. Unnecessary spending could relate in
a large deficit for the city, he said.
Morgan also said this year’s budget is tracking closely
to last year’s budget, the only difference being the
capital projects fund, which took a significant hit
since the arrival of the new elementary school. However,
Morgan said the council was expecting this and budgeted
appropriately at the beginning of this fiscal year.
Also in attendance at the meeting was Matt Regan,
city auditor, who broke down the financial situation
of Mendon.
"Revenue is up about $11,000 over previous fiscal
year," Regan said. "Total revenue is $441,000, as opposed
to $430,000 in 2007." While the city is currently a
surplus, it is a very small surplus of only $20,000,
Regan said, which if not managed correctly could be
accidentally spent.
Regan also offered advice to the council which could
lead to large amounts of money being saved.
"I’d like to see people from the council be more involved
in the day-to-day finances. I know everyone is busy
and that you are a relatively small city, but I’d like
to see someone compare all the numbers,” Regan said.
“Not that I believe there is wrong doing, but it’s better
to have extra checks and balances.”
He also recommended that the city locate all programs
that are self sufficient and consider shrinking their
budgets. He offered recommendations that would lighten
the load on city budgets. He said the city should consider
enlisting Mendon residents to perform jobs around the
city that are currently costing extra money.
"One of the elements we talked about is to put out
a request for volunteers, and assign the work which
the city has paid for in the past over to the citizens,”
Morgan said. “Obviously we can’t do that for everything,
but things such as ground work at the cemetery are an
option.”
All of these propositions are still under consideration
and were not formal decisions.
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