Sales tax revenue up, but so are expenses

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All aldermen were present for the city council workshop April 22 when Finance Director Lonnie Clark gave March financial report. With 25 percent of the year complete, most funds came in under budget with the exception of the non-departmental general fund at 55 percent year-to-date that recently experienced a $40,000 settlement payout of unbudgeted expense due to the Roundhouse lawsuit, Clark explained. Hence, the general fund expenses ran 8.55 percent over revenues for the period. 

Clark indicated the Fire & EMS fund was slightly over budget due to underestimated overtime wages. General fund income received from sales tax for March was $117,147, a 33.5 percent increase from the same month last year. 

Clark described the 2009-2019 tax comparison and stated that 2019 was a record-high tax collection for March, to which he said, “I thought that was pretty impressive.” While that is encouraging, the overall year-to-date expenses have outweighed revenues by 2.68 percent, a net loss of $79,143.