From the Bloomington Herald Tribune:
Recent errors discovered in Monroe County’s 2012 revenues mean both good and bad news, Monroe County Council President Geoff McKim told the council the Tuesday night, and the good outweighs the bad.
Monroe County’s operating budget will end 2012 much less in the red than originally planned despite an auditor’s office error in property tax calculations and thanks to an error in income taxes withheld by the state. The county could even end the year in the black if the council continues to delay filling job vacancies, McKim said.
Last fall, the county council approved a $29.4 million operating budget that reflected expenditures exceeding projected revenues by $2.9 million. The county has around $12 million in cash reserves that could cover the deficit, but the council would prefer to keep that fund as fat as possible for as long as possible.
Two errors revealed earlier this month have repainted the county’s operating budget projections, however.
On April 6, local government officials throughout Indiana were both elated and frustrated to learn that the state Department of Local Government Finance had miscalculated local income taxes and erroneously withheld $206 million. Taxing units in Monroe County, including the city of Bloomington and the county government, would be getting more than $6.6 million dollars that the state had wrongfully kept in 2011 and 2012.
Monroe County government’s share of unexpected county option income tax revenues would be $2.5 million, which would nearly address the operating budget deficit.
But on April 19, it was discovered that an error in calculating assessed values and property taxes would result in a $990,000 revenue shortfall for county taxing units, of which the county would be hit by more than $170,000, including $120,000 less for County General.
The bottom line: The county’s revised deficit projection is $774,000, according to McKim’s calculations.
The good news continues: The deficit projection doesn’t include funds that will revert to County General, appropriated but unspent by departments. In 2009, $2.4 million reverted; in 2010, $1.7 million reverted, and in 2011, $900,000 was returned to county general. Such reversions are also expected in 2012, but the exact amount is unknown.
If the county continues its policy of delaying filling job vacancies and collects some unspent funds form departments, the county’s operating budget could actually go from red to black, McKim said.
...
http://www.heraldtimesonline.com/stories/2012/04/25/news.new-projections-paint-monroes-operating-budget-rosier-less-red.sto
(This is a paid article)
