What it is: The general fund is the general operating fund for the city. It accounts for all revenues and expenditures to carry out basic governmental activities of the city.
Last year’s revised budget: $7,632,481
The general fund only encompasses general government. This is not the entire budget. It does not include special revenues ($5.1 million), debt services ($1.8 million), capital projects ($13,967,346), enterprise funds ($38.6 million) and internal service funds ($292,782).
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The largest source of funding is Local Government Aid (LGA) of $3,177,946. More than $1.2 million of the over $3.6 million tax levy is devoted to the general fund. The general fund receives money from other funds, such as $625,650 from the city’s electric fund and $225,000 from the municipal liquor store fund.
Public Safety, the largest benefactor, includes the police department, security center, fire department, crime control, animal control and more.
Fund equity is the net of accumulated revenue and expenses from previous years.
Budget tricks: City Administrator Steve Robinson said the city uses the Equipment Revolving Schedule to replace or repair old equipment such as police cars, fire trucks or even office supplies such as photocopiers. The city makes a timeline in conjunction with various departments of when they will need to replace existing equipment. Money consistently goes into the schedule every year so the the budget doesn’t increase dramatically if there is a major purchase.
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“When we say we’re spending $200,000 for new police cars, it’s not coming out of the new budget,” Robinson said. “We put money away incrementally every year to replace that car. There’s also significant savings available ordering the equipment early.”
“If we weren’t forward thinking in trying to spread the cost of the fire truck over 25 years or police cars over four years, you can imagine what would happen with the budget and the levee when we purchase a new one,” Finance Director Brian Kolander added.
