Council approves 2006-2007 budget

At its Tuesday meeting, Springfield City Council approved the proposed budget for the 2006-2007 fiscal year, which begins July 1.

Among the key items in the 273-page document:

• Sales and use taxes are expected to bring in $76.4 million, up 6.4 percent from the 2005-2006 total; that growth is important, as the city is expected to derive 32 percent of its total revenue from sales and use taxes.

• Property taxes should bring in another $14.4 million, up about 1 percent.

• General operating expenditures, which include police, fire, public parks and public works, will total $93.7 million – 39.7 percent of the city’s total spending for the year.

The largest single spending increase comes in employee salary and benefits, according to city Finance Director Mary Mannix Decker.

“It does always increase somewhat, but this year we’re putting another almost $563,000 in the (Police Officers’ and Firefighters’) Pension Plan, and that’s more than we’ve seen as a single-year increase in the past,” she said.

The increase in funding is one of several changes to the pension plan for Police and Fire, including changes to benefits for new employees hired beginning in June.

See SBJ’s June 5 issue for more from the May 30 City Council meeting.