The Christiansburg Town Council's next Finance Committee meeting will be held on Wednesday, May 7 at 3 pm at the Town Hall. That was clearly stated by Mayor Ballengee during yesterday's Finance Committee meeting -- which was not publicly posted yet included media and citizen presence for the budget development process, perhaps for the first time in the town's history.
Initial numbers indicate recent tourism initiatives will take a hit -- more than just what could be expected due to inflationary or recessionary economic factors.
The town is projecting a $2.6MM deficit gap and is looking to take steps to fill that hole by any means other than an increase to real estate taxes, given the recent 8-cent increase adopted by the county. Tourism, and so-called user fee related taxes, will bear the brunt -- possibly on the assumption the future aquatic center will offset economic or tourism impacts.
If user taxes are the preferred approach, then council would be well served to consider an increase the cigarette tax another 20-cents per pack. This tax currently brings in a significant chunk of money, and an increase places the product further out of the financial reach of youths while encouraging adults to modify their own behavior. And the council should lobby state legislators heavily to allow taxation of
all tobacco products.
If user taxes are the preferred approach, then council would be well served to consider an increase to garbage and sewer costs. These services are currently subsidized, with actual expenses outstripping what citizens are billed. A mandatory garbage collection fee applied to every address may even encourage recycling.
Aggregate cost of items such as hardware/software expenses, building and grounds expenses, marketing or advertising expenses, insurance expenses, or even legal services cannot be ascertained in the budget material. While it is understood these items should be spread across all functional areas, categorical totals aligned with a related chart of accounts is absent. This limits having the overall expenses itemized or tracked. Another absence was a listing of the total number of FTEs (full time equivalents) employed by the town, by department. This makes it difficult to understand overall operational costs by department or functional area. Attrition rates and historical employee counts for each functional area are another prime source of determining operational efficiency.
Walking away, one realizes there are gaps in information being provided and crucial for making budget decisions. No private business could present budget information this way. It just wouldn't fly, because the whole purpose of a budget is to provide a tool for effectively managing operations.
As presented to its Finance Committee, revenue projections are based on sources sensitive to economic cycles and therefore subject to actual funds being much more or less than estimates. Given today's economic climate, this is unwise.
If the town is being run efficiently, it certainly is not demonstrated in the information provided to its own committee, and now the public. Starting the process this late, it may be difficult to affect significant adjustments or changes before the mandated July 1 adoption of a fiscal year 2008-09 budget.