Springfield ends fiscal year strong, but concerns persist – May. 7, 2014

Jamie Munks
May. 7, 2014
The State Journal-Register

The city of Springfield is in a much healthier financial state than five years ago, but that doesn’t mean it’s time to ramp up spending. The city ended its fiscal year Feb. 28 with a $5 million surplus, revenue that exceeded expectations, lower-than-anticipated expenses and a $20 million fund balance, McCarty said during a presentation at Tuesday night’s council meeting.

“All in all, ’14 was a very good year,” McCarty said, adding that there are a number of financial concerns moving forward. “It’s not all good news, unfortunately.” The city finished off its most recent fiscal year in a positive cash position with $3.5 million — a nearly $7 million swing to the upside from the city’s cash position at the close of the fiscal year in 2009.

Expenses last year came in about $4.3 million under what was projected in the budget, and the city’s total revenue came in at nearly $117.8 million, or roughly $1.5 million more than anticipated. The main driver of that difference was more revenue from City Water, Light and Power payments in lieu of taxes, McCarty said.

The average daily cash balance in the city’s corporate fund was $7.8 million last fiscal year, and the estimated ending fund balance for the fiscal year was $20 million, which is more than 18 percent of operating expenses and marks the highest fund balance since the inception of the mayor-aldermanic form of government more than 25 years ago, McCarty said.

That $20 million fund balance is an 87 percent increase from the $2.6 million balance in the city’s coffers at the close of the fiscal year in 2010.

Ward 7 Ald. Joe McMenamin acknowledged there was “some good news” in McCarty’s report, but said the city’s long-term pension debt continues to be a major issue that needs addressing. “We can say our checking account has grown by $5 million, but on the other hand, we’ve in effect borrowed for our pension funds during the most recent period by $10 million,” McMenamin said at Tuesday’s meeting. “So we’re still not out of the woods by any means.”