Farmington City Council Approves Amending 2012 Budget

FARMINGTON — Farmington’s 2012 amended budget shows that actual expenses exceeded budgeted items by almost $900,000 but a majority of this amount is because the construction of the sports complex was not completed until 2012, according to city Finance Director Jimmy Story.

By state law, cities are required to pass a resolution and amend their annual budgets to reflect actual revenues and expenditures.

Story said the city budgeted the construction of the sports complex in 2011. However, because the ball park was not finished until 2012, he had to show some of these expenses in the 2012 budget.

The Farmington City Council approved a resolution to amend the 2012 budget at its Jan. 15 meeting.

“The money was allocated in 2011 but not spent until 2012,” Story told the council.

The 2012 budget for the general fund was $2,029,414. The amended budget is $ 2,875,196, a difference of $845,782. Two items account for most of this difference: $644,805 for park construction and another $151,331 for capital improvements at the ballpark.

The city does not have any ongoing projects that carried over from 2012 to 2013, so Story said this same scenario should not happen next year. The parks and recreation budget was amended from $176,562 to $258,340, a difference of more than $80,000, also because of the ballpark. The city budgeted $37,541 for sports complex expenses and spent $103,263.

The police department exceeded its budget by almost $7,000 and the fire department exceeded its budgeted items by about $4,500 but both departments received grants in 2012 to take care of the additional expenses, Story said.

On the revenue side, the city projected to receive $2 million in 2012 and took in $2.36 million. Revenues that were up included building inspection fees, rental fees and donations for the ballpark and proceeds from the county sales tax. The city also received an additional $ 126,422 in grants for the police and fire departments in 2012. The amended budget for the street department shows $553,702 in revenue, which includes a beginning balance of $ 123,345. The street department received more in 2012 from the city sales tax, county sales tax and state turnback funds than projected.

For expenses, the budget was amended from $355,888 to $ 553,702. Expenses for street and road repair were up by more than $175,000.

As part of the 2012 budget, Story said he transferred about $ 200,000 to the general reserve fund. This account now has a balance of $1.7 million.

In other action, the council approved requests to remove several items from inventory lists, including a computer at the library, a phone system, computer armoire and two storage buildings behind the library.

The council also approved a request to destroy 2006 records, as allowed by state law.