On September 24th the Buffalo City Council met and voted 5 to 1 to pass an ordinance to revise the budget for the fiscal year 2011/2012. I questioned the process and was told the budget was revised for departments that went over budget. When I noticed that some departments had not gone over budget, but still had their original amounts raised I asked why. The police department with an original budget of $404,859 was revised and raised to $429,477. The actual spending did not go over the original budgeted amount so the first answer to my question did not make sense...
(You can view the transcripts of these meetings in previous posts on this blog.)
The next answer I was given was the police department budget was raised because we purchased police cars. At our city council meeting on October 8th the administration wanted to clarify the spending questioned at the previous meeting. This is the report given...
"I would like to take this opportunity to explain how I came up with the budget adjustments that were proposed at last month's meeting:
a. The $40,483 that was left for the Mayor to determine the best use for was transferred to: Administration Capital of $3,900 (two computers and artwork), Police Department Capital of $2,050 (Records management system which discussed with the Board in January), Animal Control Capital of $3,300 (rebuilt engine), Fire Department Capital of $2,136 (pager and radio), Community Center Capital of $4,500 (2nd coating for outside of building.) That left $24,597.
b. The Board authorized the following which were not in the original or revised budget: Nuisance enforcement approved in April of $3,504 (Administration wages and benefits), kennel assistant approved in July of $4,215 (Animal Control wages), Durango approved in June of $12,595 (Fire Department Capital), Community Building painting approved in October of $4,800 (Community Center Capital), Repairs to Airport Building of $6,636.37 which were approved in June and August (Airport Repairs increased by $5,500), Concession Stand/ Restroom approved in July at an estimated cost of $30,000 (Park Capital). Those items total $60,614.
c. Overspending in the following departments: Animal Control supplies were over budget with the August bills ($3,000 increase), Pool electricity was over budget with June bills but netted it against wages, O'Bannon Center supplies went over budget with June bills ($500), O'Bannon Center electricity went over with September bills ($1,000), Park supplies was over budget with the June bills but netted it with concessions and trophies, Maintenance of Old Park went over with the June 25th payment of bills ($1,800), Vehicle maintenance in Park went over budget with the May bills ($1,000). This total over budget was $7,300.
d. In order to close the budget year $52,628 had to either be cut from someone's budget or revenue increased. Therefore sales tax was raised by $12,000, Police Department benefits were cut by $5,432, Street Department wages was cut by $16,311 and benefits by $9,843 and the Fire Department capital was rounded up by $263."
I do not see any mention of POLICE CARS in the administrative report. If you watch the September 24th video HERE (time stamp 14:42), you will see the whole conversation revolved around those police cars. At one point Mayor Mead actually says "and that probably.. the police cars... the program for the police department was something that probably... most likely came out of that discretionary fund." (time stamp 23:18) Mayor Mead was under the impression that he had authorized the purchase of the two police cars through the mayors discretionary fund. This would tack on an extra $30,050 to his discretionary spending bringing the total up to $45,936 which is over the budgeted amount. Why was this omitted from the report?
The total amount AS OF AUGUST 2012 spent on Capital items in the General Revenue was $81,917.06. I don't have the totals for the year because the board was not given the same financial information for September that we've received every other month. I am assuming the amount will be more, as there will probably be bills from the concession stand in the September actual's.
I do have an update on the inventory for Park Concessions. I was given a stack of papers that included, receipts and daily counts of items. It will take me a day or two to figure up the profits or losses on concessions based on the information I was given.
As I am given more financial information I will continue to post updates on what I find.
No comments:
Post a Comment