Calabasas budget in the black despite Civic Center

by Michael Picarellapic@theacorn.com

Calabasas Civic Center The general fund for Calabasas grew by almost $1 million during the past year, city finance officials reported. And despite inflationary costs and the spending of $2.1 million to begin work on the new Calabasas Civic Center, officials say the city’s finances remain on solid ground.

The current 2004-05 fiscal year started with a general fund balance of $16.4 million.

The general fund during the current fiscal year grew by $999,600, leaving a balance of approximately $17.4 million as of April 2005, said Gary Lysik, Calabasas chief financial officer.

“If the city wasn’t engaged in the development of a new civic center, the general fund would have grown an additional $2.1 million,” Lysik said.

The city’s budget for the new fiscal year (July 1, 2005 through June 30, 2006) is now available to the public. City officials discussed their projected two-year budget during a recent city council meeting and will review the plan again next year.

“In prior years, a two-year budget was approved and not really revisited until that budget expired two years later,” said Calabasas Chief Financial Officer Gary Lysik. “I decided to improve the budget by creating what I call a ‘rolling’ two-year budget, meaning that every year, a completely new two-year budget is created. The advantage of this is quite simply that it provides council, management and citizens with a more up-to-date budget, including a one-year ‘look-ahead.’ This ‘look-ahead’ allows for better forward planning and greater understanding of future sources and uses of money.”

Last year, the city budgeted $18.3 million in spending from the general fund, but only spent $13.8 million.

“With this in mind, it’s estimated that general fund spending will total roughly $16 million by year end, $2.3 million under the budgeted amount,” Lysik said. “Since joining the city, both the city manager and I have pushed department heads to be frugal in their spending. By implementing a revised reporting package, department heads have heightened their awareness of spending and have curtailed spending accordingly, thus saving taxpayers lots of money.”

Lysik expects the city to receive about $17.4 million in revenue this fiscal year. Sales tax is the largest income producer at an expected $6.5 million. Other major revenue sources include the city’s utility user’s tax ($3.1 million), franchise fees ($1.8 million) and property taxes ($1.2 million).

The city will spend about $17.1 million during the coming year.

Some of the city’s major expenses this year include the $27 million civic center project, $3.4 million for Sheriff’s services and $790,000 for street maintenance.

Lysik said projected expenditures also include $9.3 million for supplies and services, $6.7 million for personnel costs and $1.1 million for capital outlay.