City sales tax revenue slides further

The city of Springfield's revenue woes continue with the receipt of its October sales tax check for the 1-cent general sales tax.

The October check, which generally covers purchases made in July and August, totaled nearly $3 million, down 15 percent compared to October 2008. During fiscal 2010, which started in July, the city is down 11.1 percent to $12.2 million.

The drop comes on the heels of news learned Wednesday that the Police and Fire Pension Fund lost 19 percent of its value in fiscal 2009 due to lackluster investment performance. The pension plan sits at 35.5 percent funding as of June 30, and actuaries are recommending a 10 percent increase in contributions to the plan from both the city and Police and Fire employees.

Increasing the city contribution next year could be difficult, however, as City Manager Greg Burris announced a plan in mid-September to cut nearly 10 percent in the general fund budget, due to both sales tax shortages and the city's increased contribution this year to the pension fund.

Among the cuts are four layoffs, a continuation of the citywide hiring freeze, mandatory furloughs for city management in all departments and a 10 percent spending reduction in most departments effective Oct. 1.