By Moses Leos III.
Higher than anticipated revenues put Buda in “good financial shape,” according to the city’s finance director, Sidonna Faust, who unveiled the city’s unaudited year-end financial statements at the Jan. 7 city council meeting.
Faust presented figures indicating a $1.7 million dollar savings during the 2012-13 fiscal year (FY), which she said was part of the city’s continued practice of controlled, conservative spending.
In 2012, the city brought in $15.9 million in total revenue – $2 million more than projected.
That higher total was due in part to the city’s higher than expected sales tax numbers, which made up 24.7 percent of the city’s annual revenue.
In 2013, Buda brought in $3.9 million dollars in sales tax revenue – an increase of 11.3 percent from the previous year, when Buda raked in $3.5 million in sales tax numbers.
The largest intake was last December, when Buda brought in more than $400,000 – an increase of 8.9 percent from a year previous.
Faust attributed the increased numbers to Buda’s rapidly growing population.
“It’s increased traffic from the growing city,” she said.
Despite the higher sales tax, Buda’s General Fund did not stay in the black. Faust said the city overspent from the General Fund, with roughly $1 million spent on public safety and more than $870,000 on Engineering and Planning.
Less than stellar were property tax figures, which increased by a modest 5.35 percent.
Faust said the city budgeted a higher property tax value, taking newly annexed properties into mind.
“When you annex more businesses, your property tax will rise slightly,” she said. “But it’s hard to determine what [that amount] is going to be.”
Several factors helped balance some of the negatives in the budget. One was the Water and Wastewater funds. Combined, both came in $600,000 in the black.
Second is the cash and fund balance the city has. On Dec. 31, Buda had $10.5 million in the bank, with many of the fund balances above thresholds set by the city.
It led Faust to proclaim the city was in good shape.
“Our goal was to build [Buda’s] fund balance requirements,” she said “By end of the year, we met [our] goals on all fund balances. We are in good shape.”
The focus now shifts to the upcoming year with sales tax trend continuing upward.
In the first quarter of FY 2013-14, Buda brought in a little over a million dollars in sales tax revenue – a 15 percent increase from the first quarter of 2012.
So far in the first quarter, Faust said the city is on track in the General Fund and the Water and Wastewater Fund.
However, city leaders anticipate large expenditures, which will include the Bonita Vista and Westside Well certificates of obligation (CO). Buda will increase its current debt to $27 million.
According to City Manager Kenneth Williams, the city’s main focus will be packaging a bond initiative, which it hopes to put to voters in November.
Williams said city staff will work with consultant Gap Strategies, owned in part by Jeff Barton, husband of this newspaper’s publisher, on prioritizing which projects could go in the bond.
While the city prepares for the future, City Manager Kenneth Williams was pleased with the financial report.
“We have a good conservative budget, which we were able to operate within last year,” he said. “We were able to restore our fund balances to a healthy situation. That was a positive situation.”
