BY C.L. HARMON
PUBLISHER
City Manager Mike Nunneley recently presented the budget for the 2015-16 fiscal year to the Mannford Board of Trustees. The proposed budget has a $4.7 million increase in revenue and expenditures bringing the total budget to $13.6 million.
Nunneley explained that there are very few changes from last year’s budget of $8.6 million, but he expects some increase to come from the new senior housing project which is expected for completion the middle of next summer. The funds used for its construction are from a $5 million disaster grant from HUD. This is the extra money that inflates the new years’ budget. It will basically float in and back out for the cost of the facility.
New revenues expected to come in this upcoming year are to come from the New Mannford Ramp expansion, the Jellystone sublease, new home construction, Mannford Plaza Center rental property, senior housing project site $250,000 for sale of land, additional land sales on the highway property and lots in Lake Country.
The city has a total unrestricted cash worth of $2,931,800 in reserve, which is monies that the city has no debt encumbered against. These break down into $1,263,000 in pooled cash, $974,000 in CD’s and $694,700 in other cash accounts. City assets with no debt against them include the Mannford Plaza valued at $750,000, 113 acres of land and 15 lots valued at $2,520,000. These assets do not include buildings and equipment that have no debt against them and are used in day to day operations of the city. The total value of these assets and unrestricted cash is estimated at $5,451, 800.
However, the city’s net worth is in excess of $19 million dollars. This includes everything from the assets mentioned above, utility lines, buildings, investments, water and sewer treatments plants among other assets.
Nunneley explained that from what the city projects its revenues to be, it should come out ahead $405,000. This is, he added, if sales tax projections hold and if the city sells enough utilities that figure it will hold.
There are variables that cannot be controlled and so the projections are simply those…projections, Nunneley stated. Due to the spring flooding and loss of revenues from closed campsites and the loss of sales tax from those who were not coming to the community in the early part of the lake season, Nunneley said those projections may likely be inaccurate. The budget proposals were estimated before the flood and so those losses could not have been known. Projections are based on prior year’s numbers.