Finance director: FY2010 first-quarter revenues track largely with history; sales tax shows early dip

Carl Daughtry, the city finance director, gave an overview of the first-quarter (0.25) revenues for fiscal year 2010, noting that quarterly totals are affected by timing of reimbursements. "For fiscal year 10, we see that total revenues of 29,400,000 is approximately 1,000,000 under the total of fiscal year 8 and fiscal year 9," Daughtry said, explaining a $1 million school reimbursement booked in a different quarter as an example.

Daughtry said general property taxes account for approximately half of total revenue and are tracking in line with historical trends. He flagged sales tax as an area to watch: "Sales tax of fiscal year 10 is slightly under the amount collected for fiscal year 9" and said the FY2009 sales tax result led staff to reduce the FY2010 sales tax budget by $389,000. The administration plans to continue monthly monitoring and to validate trends in the second quarter report; the state's FY2010 budget cuts are expected to reduce local state revenues by about $1.2 million, a hit the city plans to cover with contingency funding.