Winder utility revenues down

City Finance Director Leslie Ginn told the Winder City Council during its work session Tuesday night that revenues should be at 66 percent of the budget’s forecast, but collections through February were at only 59 percent.

Ginn said expenditures in the utility services as of February were running at 65 percent of budget.

Ginn did not put dollar amounts to those percentages either in her presentation or in her two-page printed report to the council and the city’s fiscal year 2009 budget is not posted online.

City administrator Bob Beck said the shortfall in utility revenues is due to decreased demand for water because of the drought and decreased demand for gas by a couple of commercial users.

Council members expressed little reaction to the numbers other than to ask if the revenues from the city’s general fund could be used to cover the shortfall in the utility funds – to which Beck responded, “No.”

The city does not levy a city property tax and depends heavily on “profit” from its utility systems for the city’s general fund budget.

In the general fund budget, revenue collections as of February were at 79 percent of what was budgeted while expenditures were only 57 percent of budget.

In February, the city laid off 30 city employees to cut expenses, a move that is expected to save the city about $1.4 million.