The Columbia City Council at their second April meeting passed the city’s budget for the 2016-17 fiscal year.

“This is the first year since I’ve been here that we’ve had a balanced general fund,” city accounting manager Linda Sharp said.

The $15 million budget has about $500,000 less in expenditures over last year, and a projected deficit of $1.3 million, which is an improvement over last year’s projected $2.4 million deficit.

“We feel very good about where we are this year,” Sharp said, adding that budget expenditures are 4 percent lower that last year.

The general fund, which accounts for the largest portion of the total budget at 36 percent, is balanced — a testament to the work Columbia has done to cut costs as well as the increased revenue from the healthier economy, city administrator Jimmy Morani said.

“Each year we are doing better since the recession,” Morani said.

The general fund encompasses a wide range of costs including administrative overhead and salaries, police operations and salaries, and street work not covered by motor fuel tax revenue.

“It’s the lifeline of the city (budget),” Morani said.

One thing Morani and Sharp attribute to the increased health of the city’s economy is the increase in sales tax revenue.

“Our sales tax revenues are very much stronger,” Sharp said.

Each of the past few years, sales taxes, which account for about $2 million in city revenue, have increased more than 10 percent over the previous year, according to Sharp.

The second largest fund — water and sewer  — makes up 23 percent of the budget at $3.5 million. Several large ongoing projects that include replacing aging water pipes and meters, as well as purchasing equipment, will contribute to a nearly $300,000 deficit in that fund.

The city is also realizing savings as a result of a new healthcare plan and paying off an ongoing lawsuit with STS Homes. Another lawsuit, with Horner and Shifrin, will be retired this year.

“We won’t have these huge liabilities anymore,” Morani said.

And the state of Illinois, which has historically been as many as four months delinquent in income tax payments to the city, which could reach more than half a million dollars at times, has been more prompt in payments.

“We still feel the effects of those delayed payments,” Sharp said, citing projects that have had to be put on hold until the state caught up on some of their back tax payments.

“I think in this day and age, with the amount of infrastructure in communities,” Morani said, “I think there’s nothing wrong with having a deficit in some funds as long as there is (future) revenue to retire that deficit.

“But over the long term, it’s important for the general and water and sewer funds to operate balanced budgets. That’s a major sign of fiscal strength in a community.”

In other city news:
•  The council approved an ordinance establishing the Main Street Abbey Business District, approved a business district plan and authorized the imposition and collection of a sales tax within this new business district as part of the ongoing project to repurpose the former Immaculate Conception Church building on South Main Street.

• The next curbside large item pickup day is Tuesday, May 31.
Columbia City Council meetings are held the first and third Mondays of each month at 7 p.m., at City Hall.