As the fiscal year draws to a close and the remaining dollars in Athens’ general fund are being depleted, some local officials say the city’s funds will be tighter than usual next year.
Athens City Council discussed the first draft of the 2014 budget at its meeting Monday, appropriating about half a million dollars more than it did for 2013.
But Athens City Auditor Kathy Hecht warned that the expected 2014 budget—at about $34.5 million—might not be enough to cover all the city’s bases.
Hecht said the general fund would experience a 1 percent decrease, which will mean $100,000 less to appropriate for city projects in the fund.
“The decrease in available money will definitely affect the city; it means we’ll appropriate less,” Hecht said.
Athens Mayor Paul Wiehl said that revenue created by city departments is expected to be flat next year, meaning that these departments will be pulling in only as much money as they were initially appropriated.
To remedy this, Wiehl said the city would have to be careful not to appropriate money it doesn’t have.
Smaller projects that were supposed to occur in 2014 are already expected to come to a halt.
“There was supposed to be masonry work done in the law and administration building, as well as a new boiler,” Wiehl said. “That fell into the general fund.”
Hecht said about $700,000 to $800,000 will be carried over from the 2013 general fund into the next fiscal year, due to money that was not appropriated.
78 percent of the money in the general fund will also go toward personnel, which tends to be nonnegotiable because some employers are under union contracts, and the city doesn’t plan for any layoffs, Wiehl said.
This is up only half a percent from last year’s budget.
The city also plans to draft a resolution to the EPA about the K&H2 injection well application, due to concerns about fracking, Councilwoman Michele Papai, D-3rd Ward, said.
Part of this is due to the increasing number of injection wells in the area and their possible connection with seismic activity that occurred last Wednesday.
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This article appeared in print under the headline "City projects could be nixed after new budget restrictions"
