City Projects $600,000 Surplus in Budget

With a hefty cash reserve and revenue projected to exceed expenses, city officials painted a glowing picture this week when they presented a budget proposal for fiscal 1996-97.

The city expects to collect $15.4 million in revenue and projects expenses of $14.8 million, giving it a $600,000 surplus for the fiscal year, officials said. And the city reserve fund will be about $6.8 million.

City Manager Robert C. Dunek said he plans to introduce a system to City Hall next year that will further improve city finances and public services.

Dunek said he will switch all departments to a performance-based budget. For instance, in evaluating the traffic safety division of police services, if the number of tickets written increases, the city would expect to see accidents decline. If that did not happen, the next year the city would reconsider the resources dedicated to traffic citations.

“We don’t want to know just how many citations were issued but what impact it has on traffic safety,” Dunek said.

All departments will be asked to review not only how much work is being done, he said, but also to gauge the effect of their efforts. The goal, Dunek said, is to give “an idea what citizens are getting back” for their tax dollars.