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Columbia City Council studies budget
Columbia City Council will hold a regular meeting at 4 pm on Wednesday, June 6, and then a budget public hearing follows at 6 pm, all at Columbia City Hall, third floor, corner of Laurel and Main. As disclosed in an official city document distributed Wednesday, May 23, the city's proposed general fund budget for fiscal year 2007/2008 is $99,515,922 , and that includes a 3.5 milage {sic} property tax increase. The 3.5 millage increase comes to about $14 more on a $100,000 owner-occupied home assessed at 4%, and a landlord pays $21 more on a $100,000 apartment assessed at 6%. In Columbia, indirectly, renters pay 50% more in taxes than owner- occupants.
From the city's 2007/2008 proposed budget, some excerpts:
Water and Sewer Operating Fund + Water and sewer operating fund revenues for FY 2007/2008 are budgeted at $93,270,041. + Office of Business Opportunities department's budget is partially funded through the Water and Sewer Fund. The Water and Sewer Operating fund portion is $265,211... + Economic Development Department's budget request is $807,286... + Economic Development Contigency is proposed at current year levels of $657,000. + Development Corporations requested budgets are as follows: - Eau Claire development Corporation, $202,382... - Columbia Housing Development Corporation, $150,000... - TN Development Corporation, $175,000... - Columbia Development Corporation, $402,791... - In addition, the City Center Partnership is funded at $70,000. + The total for all development corporations and the City Center Partnership is $930,173 , a net change of $66,731... If it desire {sic} of City Council to changes {sic} these allocations, please let us know your expectations in this regard. + The transfer to the General Fund is included at $4.5 million , which is the same as the current year. The transfer to capital projects for street- scaping is also budgeted at current levels of $1.8 million , also the same amount as the current year. + The amount available for transferring to the Water and Sewer Capital Improvements is budgeted at $15,506,821 , which is a decrease of $3.7 million from the current year.
Parking Fund + The Parking Fund proposed budget, including transfers, for FY 2007/2008 is $6,910,535 , an increase of $506,000 or 7.9% over the current year's budget. The majority of this increase is from the addition of the Park Street Garage (previously referred to as Pendleton Street Garage), which is scheduled to open in June 2007 and increases in debt service. + The transfer from the Parking Fund to the General Fund remains at $1,000,000 . As part of the agreement with the Central Midlands Regional Transit Authority (CMRTA), we will continue our transfer to the transit operations in the amount of $90,000.
Hospitality Tax + The FY 07/08 proposed budget for Hospitality is $7,000,000... + The transfer to the General Fund is at current levels of $800,000 and the Hospitality Tax Committee allocation is $2,000,000.
Accommodations Tax • We...are projecting the Accommodations Tax Budget to be $1.3 millions {sic} for next year. Of the $1.3 million , $25,000 is transferred to the General Fund and $1,175,000 is for the Accommodations Tax Committee.
Editor's note + Money collected from water and sewer but transferred out for other purposes appears to total almost $9 million , while the fund's money for water and sewer capital improvements is decreased by $3.7 million . All this in a time when warnings have been issued for frighteningly inadequate water supply and pressure in northeast Columbia. + Money collected from parking operations, including fines, but transferred out for other operations appears to total $1,090,000 , while parking meters continue to be controversial among street- front merchants and parking fines remain an annoyance to out- of- towners who don't read the fine print. + The Hospitality Tax and Accommodations Tax are generally accepted as funds to attract visitors. Much is being transferred to fund streetscape improvements in Olympia, to help improve an auditorium at Allen University, and to help with athletic fields at Columbia College. The Convention and Visitors Bureau took from the Hospitality Tax Fund $800,000 in FY 06/07 and is expected to take another $800,000 in FY 07/08. + The overhead for running the convention center is not itemized , and neither is the revenue. No accounting is offered other than what may be included in the numbers across and throughout the proposed budget document.
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