Shelby treasury stands at $16.4M as `23 gets underway
Year-end 2022 numbers show total funds in the city of Shelby’s treasury totaling $16,414,028.57, a figure bolstered by strong income tax revenues tracked by the municipal government.
The details were provided to City Council by Councilman Garland Gates, finance and personnel committee chairman, whose update concluded the 2022 reporting period.
In a separate update made via social media, Gates noted that Shelby had concluded 2022 with $6.858 million in investments and $9.556 million in checking accounts.
Gates, who serves on the committee with Councilman Nathan Martin, reviewed several financial documents that covered a range of topics.
“On income tax collections, we can see here that at the end of 2022, city income tax revenues were slightly over $6 million,” Gates said on Jan. 17.
For the month of December, it was $313,000.
“The finance director mentioned that the collection process helped a lot, including the interest and penalties that taxpayers ended up paying because they hadn’t paid,” Gates said. “And part of that process, of course, was the efforts of the law director... They were filed in municipal court.”
“So in addition to the penalties, and taxes, and interest people paid, there were also the court costs that they had to pay, as well,” Gates said. “So kind of a win-win situation all around.”
Gates explained the city’s income tax collections and breakdowns.
“A little over a million dollars in the individual income taxes, up 21 percent over the three-year average,” he said, later noting business taxes of $1.7 million and withholding of $3.4 million “up 18.5 percent over the three-year average.”
“The quote that I got from the finance director is, ‘Will that trend continue?’” Gates said in reference to Brian Crum. “We’ll leave it to him to gaze into his crystal ball when he makes his estimations of revenues that we’ll use come appropriations time. We do know we have those two extraordinary outliers.”
Outliers was a term used frequently in presentations of city financial reports in 2022. In November, Gates was contacted to explain the significance of the “outliers” term.
“This year (2022) the city received at least two significant, unexpected income tax remittances from a business,” Gates responded. “Because they are so different from the norm, we’ve labeled them as outliers.”
At is final meeting of January, City Council also was updated on the general fund that pays for many basic city services.
“At the end of the year cash of $2.3 million, encumbrances a little over $400,000, so slightly under $2 million free and clear going into this new year,” Gates said. “We had about $1.3 million starting in 2022.”
A big difference for that is the monies formerly known as the American Rescue Plan Act funds and also the increased income tax revenue, he said.
The city of Shelby’s street fund is free and clear at about $17,000.
“But there’s gasoline tax revenue that comes every month so the fact that that is low, that’s just a one-time low. Again, those monies come from the state every month,” Gates said.
In the income tax fund, a cash balance of $225,000 was shown at the end of 2022.
“The practice has been for any number of years, and any number of finance directors, that each month distribute everything from the income tax fund, but leave $50,000 there,” Gates said.
That is no longer the case. “The finance director has wisely increased that to $425,000 in anticipation of some significant refunds that we might have to make, quite possibly related to those outliers that we have,” Gates said.
“We would not want to be into a situation where those monies were distributed to the general fund, capital improvements, police, court, etc. and then those funds would have to pay them back to the income tax fund, so that a refund could be made. That would be very awkward.”
Other budget categories could be affected, too.
“If we had a situation where, for example, in capital improvements, where we would encumber those funds because we’ve entered into a contract with someone, then in fact we could have an unbelievable situation where the capital improvement fund was actually indebted to the income tax fund,” Gates said.
The city does not wish to go that way, he said.
“It’s very wise to leave that large amount, knowing, of course, that for most people, it’s April 15th when taxes are due,” Gates said. “It happens to be a Saturday this year, so it’ll be the 17th. But then you have people who get extensions...into October. So we’ll worry about how long we’re going to carry that $425,000 throughout the year.”
As far as the city of Shelby’s capital improvements fund, an encumbrance of $430,000 is listed. “Primarily, that’s for two (police) cruisers and an ambulance. So that’s why
The following content was made available due to the efforts of Shelby’s Marvin Memorial Library.
An Affray – Our town was the scene of a most disgraceful fight on Monday night last, two Germans by the name of John Horning and Charles Ludin become engaged in a quarrel, when one of them became so enraged that he drew a knife and attempted to stab his opponent. Some bystanders interfered, and succeeded in separating them, but not without a Mr. Sotzen received several cuts through the coat sleeve.
Daring Robbery – On Sabbath night last, the house of Rev. H. G. Dubois, was entered by burglars, who succeeded in carrying off valuables to the amount of about $40, consisting of a watch, some silver coins, and about $15 in Greenbacks. If the thief will return the watch, the silver coins, he will receive their value in Greenbacks and no questions asked.
The Weather – The old “boss” of the weather has not been at all parsimonious in his supply of weather for the week, for our part we think that he has been rather liberal in his supply, and, for the kind, it was good enough; but the article furnished was of that quality that is not in demand at this time of the year. The old “fell” has promised to make a change soon.
The Western Central Railway – We are pleased to learn from the circular of this Company that they have determined to proceed with the important line under the best of auspices and that this great project is attracting, as it ought, the attention of leading railway men of the country. That it may become a success is the wish of everyone who has an intelligent idea of the vast benefits such a road would confer on this and all other communities reached by it. It is to be hoped that the wishes of the incorporators as expressed in their circular, will be promptly met.
Baseball – The new baseball rules for 1868 require that all balls used in a match, must be stamped with the size, weight, and maker’s name, and if any other is used, the game played will be “null and void.” The new ball is smaller and lighter than the old one, being but nine inches in circumference, and weighing five and a quarter ounces.
Sidewalks – We make a suggestion to those in authority that there are very many places in the sidewalks of our town that need immediate attention. It is by no means necessary, in our estimation, to have our sidewalks in the condition in which they are at present. If we must have plank sidewalks, do not let us fall into the way of thinking that they must be first-class mantraps. There is nothing so expressive of the condition of some of the plank sidewalks on certain of the principal streets, as the words which close the sentence above. Hardly a day passes over but what we hear of some persons who are tripped up by loose planks, or by an utter abstinence of them, and if they are not seriously injured, it is solely due to the mysterious influence of a Divine Providence. We cannot understand how any necessity exists for this state of things. Sidewalks with the planks nailed down cost little more than sidewalks with the planks loose and steadily finding their way to the nearest shanty for firewood. Cannot this matter be remembered.
we have that huge amount there, encumbered,” Gates told council.
The street, alleys, and catch basins fund shows “a good, healthy balance there of $427,000 that we can start to plan and do our street resurfacing program.”
Meanwhile, the sewer fund in Shelby is starting 2023 free and clear with $104,000. The water fund is $216,000 free and clear and the electric and telecommunications fund is $4.2 million free and clear.
The hospitalization fund is $562,000, but the city received a bill estimated at $200,000.
“We have little if no control over that,” Gates said. “People get sick, and they use their insurance, and rightly so.”
As far as Shelby’s total budget, revenues exceeded expenditures by $1.2 million in the general fund.
The report also showed income tax transfers.
“We had $925,000 more in income tax revenue into the general fund in 2022, than we did in 2021,” Gates said. “Will that trend continue? We will see.”
Another document showed more comparisons, revenues versus expenditures for the utilities to look at, Gates said.
“For all funds, right in the middle, there’s a note of the administrative costs,” he said. “We pared that down to $96,000 in 2022. When we get the appropriations measure, we’ll see if that can continue.”
Another highlight was presentation of Shelby’s cash investment and reconciliation statement.
“The 52-week CDS are now at 4 percent, so that’s good news,” Gates said, referencing certificates of deposit.
As far as city investments, $1.75 million will be transferred from PNC Bank because PNC no longer has a bank within the Shelby limits.
“I’m sure, the finance department will shop around and find the best place to invest those monies,”
Gates said.
As Gates’ presentation closes, he requested that Shelby’s combined financial statement, and the cash investment reconciliation statement, both dated Dec. 31, 2022, be received, placed on file, and posted to the city’s website.
This was seconded by Councilman Martin with the measure passing 4-0 with Councilmen Derrin Roberts and Steve Mclaughlin joining Gates and Roberts. Councilman Charles Roub was not in attendance.
In other business at the committee level, finance director Crum reported that he has received bank reconciliation statements from the municipal court involving appropriations, Gates said.
Also planned is for municipal utilities director John Ensman, Shelby’s deputy public service director, to have the requested appropriations from Streets and Utilities to Crum by Feb. 1.
“We discussed briefly about having the committee of the whole meet twice to go over the appropriations,” Gates said of the group that includes all five councilmen.
“It seemed to work better to do that two halfdays as opposed to one full day where it just gets to be, at least for this member of council, too many numbers in too short a time.”
Crum told council that as far as appropriations, he planned to contact other city department heads as part of the information-gathering process.
“So I expect in early February I’ll have a draft for everybody,” Crum said.
Meanwhile, Councilman Nathan Martin provided an update on pending legislation in his role as Utilities and Streets Committee chairman.
In another consumer issue, Martin noted that the Consumer Price Index adjustment, the CPI, was released the day of the last meeting of that committee.
“The adjustment was 5.7 percent,” Martin said. “Obviously, per ordinance, 26-2022, and 27-2022, the water and sewer CPI percentage adjustments have an upward adjustment of no more than 5 percent. Any additional authorized percentage has to be presented to council no later than the
second regular meeting in February of the adjustment year.”
A question was put forward to the committee “of whether we wanted to put that in a docket,” Martin recalled. “But I pointed out that in my interpretation, the rules specifically state that it shall be presented to council, not if the committee deems it. So we will see legislation at the Feb. 6th meeting to vote up or down as a council on that additional 0.7 upward adjustment.”
That’s the legislation being prepared.
“So when you see that, that’s why the legislation is coming, because it is essentially dictated per ordinance 26-27 2022,” Martin said. “Of course what council decides to do with that legislation is council’s prerogative, the first meeting in February.”
In personnel matters, two retirements were reported with further details presented in a report later provided by the city of Shelby:
• Christopher Korbas retired as crew chief foreman with the service department’s division of
sewer
• Shelby patrol officer Edward Fetzer retired from the Shelby Police Department
• Derrick Wallace, John Grimes, and Zachary Arnold joined the Shelby Fire Department as firefighter/paramedics
The Shelby Police Department also is hiring.
The department was short one dispatcher as of Jan. 4 and with an officer retirement, the department was going to be down five officers, said Councilman Derrin Roberts, Safety Committee chairman.
Shelby Mayor Steve Schag provided an update on that.
“We were able to bring one of the candidates for a police officer position this morning, and Chief (Lance) Combs and I interviewed him,” Schag said.
Officials were “very impressed, so we extended him a conditional offer of employment, signed and countersigned. So that is in process,” Schag added.