The Winder City Council has scheduled a second public hearing on the budget for fiscal year 2012 that starts July 1.
No one from the public attended the first hearing last week. This week’s hearing is scheduled for 5 p.m. Thursday, May 26, at the Winder Community Center on East Athens Street.
Following the public comment period, city administrator Don Toms will go through the projected revenues and expenditures for the city’s main operating fund.
At last week’s meeting, he and elected officials discussed the individual budgets for Winder’s other funds, including the Water and Gas funds that generate millions of dollars in revenue for the operation of the city government.
The preliminary budget document is posted online at www.cityofwinder.com but does not yet show the amount of water and gas profits to be transfered to the General Fund in the new fiscal year.
Overall, the administration expects the city to collect $29.48 million in FY2012 and to spend $26.4 million on operations and $3.4 million on debt payments. That would result in a revenue shortfall of $301,300, according to the draft document.
In addition, city departments are requesting $14.7 million in capital spending on projects that would be completed over the next five years. The city typically spends from $1-2 million annually on capital improvements, according to the draft budget.
REDISTRICTING
Winder will have an open-house meeting from 6-8 p.m. Thursday, May 26, to allow voters to examine the newly drawn boundary lines of the city’s four election wards. The meeting will be at the Winder Community Center.
Voting district lines are adjusted after every census to reflect population and ethnicity changes.
Winder consultant Ernie Graham, who has worked on the maps with the Northeast Georgia Regional Commission, will be on hand at the open house to present information and to answer questions about the maps.
