Saturday, August 2, 2008

Los Lunas Council OKs budget of $20.9 million

Kenn Rodriguez News-Bulletin Staff Writer; krodriguez@news-bulletin.com

Los Lunas The Los Lunas Village Council unanimously approved the final budget for the 2008-09 fiscal year at its regularly scheduled meeting on Thursday, July 24.

The final budget is almost identical to the preliminary budget the village sent to be approved by the state in June, with estimated revenues will come in at a little over $20.9 million and expenditures are at just under $20.1 million.

Capital projects such as the new waste water treatment plant and adaptations to bring the village into compliance with federal arsenic levels are the biggest expense in the budget, said village administrator Phillip Jaramillo.

"Over all, it's the same budget we sent to the state," he said. "Normally the final budget is torqued a little bit, and things are adjusted. The final beginning balances are what was really are usually waiting for that so that's the only thing that changed. And that was very minimal."

Because of declines in gross receipts over the last year, the village expects to have to dip into its reserve fund in the upcoming year. However, Jaramillo said, the village has been building up the reserve with its large capital projects in mind.

"What was actually happening was we knew the projects were coming along so we'd been building up reserves in anticipation," he said. "The waster water plant and arsenic project are running around $25 million, so we had already increased utility fees years ago and some of that money was going into the reserve."

Like the preliminary budget, ,the final budget comes in just over $62.4 million, while revenues are set at around $56.9 million - a shortfall of around $5.49 million.

In his presentation to the council, Village Financial Planner Peter Fernandez said the village's capital projects, which total almost $8.2 million, account for the entirety of the budget shortfall. Capital outlay in the water and sewer department accounts for just over $15 million in the budget, with the south sewer interceptor line installation and arsenic removal project accounting for $8 million and $6 million respectively. The new waste water treatment plant is budgeted for a little over $12 million.

In his presentation to the council, Fernandez said only one position is being added this year in the village - a technical staff position in the police department.

Jaramillo said he was happy with the budget as it was approved.

"It's a very good budget," he said. "Somewhat conservative still because of the economy. For instance, we hardly have any personnel added, and we were able to give some raises, but the main thing was that we didn't add any additional staff, which is always most expensive area.

"Our operating budget is also fairly conservative. We have costs we meet every year and need to make sure we can cover those. A lot has to do with economy. Gross receipts may be down a little over the next year, and we're prepared for that."

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