The Watonga City Council met Tuesday evening in regular session. There were six or eight residents in the gallery to observe while the council handled the people’s business.
With Mayor Bill Seitter away on vacation, Vice Mayor Travis Bradt led the proceedings. After the consent agenda – basically the city paying its bills – the council heard from Dacia Phillips of RS Meacham, the city’s accounting firm.
Phillips presented the numbers for the city at the end of its fiscal year. Those numbers showed a general fund income of $2.9 million, vs last year’s income of $2.3 million. That income is derived from the taxes the city collects, police income, grants, licenses and permits.
Total expenditures were $3.4 million, with the difference made up through transfers into the general fund from other accounts such as interest income and ambulance fees. When a transfer to another fund of $441,103 is taken into account, the income of general fund over the amount spent is slightly over half a million dollars.
Moving to the light and water department – which is a separate entity responsible for its own costs – the electric and garbage divisions were the only ones in the black. Electric showed an income of $4.2 million, and expenses of $2.2 million, with a net income of $2 million.
Water revenue for the year was $640,201 and expenses for water were $210,441. However, when the capital project and debt service costs are paid, the water department is more than $800,000 in the hole.
The story is much the same in the sewer department, with an income of $367,779 and expenses of only $157,770. When the debt service and the capital project expenses are removed from the equation, the deficit is $1,073,681. The entire light and water budget shows a loss of $800,201. With the capital project costs of $1.8 million offset, the department garnered an income of slightly over $1 million.
The one cent sales tax earmarked by the city for the water and sewer projects collected some $350,000 this fiscal year. The airport showed an income of $243,781, with the largest part of that from a grant payment of $165,000. After expenses the total income was $165,515. None of the money from the recently announced terminal grant has begun
to flow to the airport yet. The sales tax account shows income of $215,642 vs last year’s income of $236,937. This is a separate accounting from the designated sales tax for the water and sewer projects.
The total sales taxes collected by or for the city were divvied up with $1.29 million for the city, $862,566 for the hospital, $356,633 for the water projects as previously stated, with a total sales tax of $2,513,050. There were also use taxes – the tax paid on internet or delivery service sales – of $262,015.
The sales taxes are down 9.59% from last fiscal year and the use taxes are down 1.83% from last fiscal year.
The numbers show the city in stable financial standing, but with significant project and debt service expenses expected for the long term.