Former City Comptroller Joe Bellitto presents 2022 Year End General Fund summary to Jamestown City Council (November 13, 2023)
The City of Jamestown closed out 2022 with nearly $1 million in surplus funds.
Former Comptroller Joe Bellitto presented the unaudited 2022 year end financial summary to City Council at its work session Monday night.
View City of Jamestown 2022 Year End Financial Summary
Under revenues, he said that sales tax only exceeded what was budgeted by $5,943, “Your EMS revenue was positive. It came in $178,000 over budget on revenue there. Your CHIPS aid.. there’s been a lot of talk the last couple years on your ARPA money. You’ve also received since I left a lot more in CHIPS revenue. So, your budget was very conservative so you ended up actually receving $1,181,000 more in CHIPS aid.”
Bellitto said most of the $987,184 in state aid was funding from the Downtown Revitalization initiative that the city hadn’t received yet for the Riverwalk Illumination project in 2022.
He said expenditures were over budget by 2.29% in 2022. Salaries came in under budget by $643,788 due to contracts not being settled yet. Bellitto said all benefits were under budget as well $758,624.
He said the contractual expenditures were over budget by $1 million but most of that was connected to the illumination project.
Bellitto said debt service was over budget by $37,077 which reflects some kind of budget issue.
Overall, Bellitto said the city ended 2022 with $914,273 in excess revenues over expenditures for the year.
He said 2022 was a good budget year, but there are concerns going forward in the 2024 budget including that Police, Fire, and CSEA contracts all expire at the end of 2024, “I always remind the council that we put a lot of emphasis this time of year on passing the general fund budget. You should obviously ask a lot of questions and go through it thoroughly. But the same holds true when the collective bargaining agreements come up for a vote because that’s what drives the budget is those contracts.”
Bellitto said interest rates and inflation going up may affect sales tax revenue and other revenue categories are flat. He cautioned that with the state facing large deficits that state aid could be cut to the city. Bellitto added New York State retirement costs are $3.66 million for the city with rates increasing in the next year.
The report out on year end numbers for 2022 was particularly late this year. Mayor Eddie Sundquist said City Council typically receives the report just before the audit starts in the Spring, “So, because there was a delay just not having a comptroller and a lot of changes and shifts in the comptroller’s office, our finance office, Joe (Bellitto) has been diligently working to basically reconcile a portion of 2022 to get it ready for audit.”
Bellitto informed Council that auditors will begin their work on the 2022 budget on Tuesday, November 21.
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