GONZALES — The City of Gonzales is spending more than it’s making at the halfway mark, but City Manager Rene Mendez says the revenues will exceed expenditures by the end of fiscal year.
“The City’s living within its means,” said Mendez. “We do have an increase in expenditures.”
Mendez said some of the expenditures are one-time in nature, such as the replacing the police cars. According to Mendez, the insurance did pay almost full value for replacing the vehicles.
“Expenditures were up $351,000, or 6.9 percent higher than initially budgeted,” said Mendez. “Revenues were up $305,000, or 5.7 percent higher than originally budgeted.”
The City is still working in the black, according to Mendez, but at $46,000 less than anticipated when it started the fiscal year.
The City has been doing some work on getting the cannabis industry into the city as well as some work on the Industrial Business Park.
The City Council also discussed a recommendation for the City concerning new building software to enable staff to streamline the building permit process and fire inspections.
“It actually makes it easier for the public to follow what’s going on if they have a permit in process,” Mendez said. “So they don’t have to wait to call us and be able to access it online.”
Some increases to the City’s budget came in the form of more staff at the fire department and the after-school program. The City also received a grant from United Way to complete a friend, family and neighborhood child care program.
“We all have relatives that take care of our children and the idea is to identify the number and see how we can improve the quality of care,” Mendez said.
Returning to the revenue side of the City budget, there was an increase in property tax. According to Mendez, planning and zoning fees have gone up based on the level of activity.
“The general fund is healthy,” Mendez said. “Revenues are anticipated to exceed expenditures. We will still maintain a million-dollar general reserve.”
The Fiscal Year for the City runs from July 1 to June 30.
