Wheeling ends FY 2011 with unexpected surplus
Wheeling ended fiscal year 2011 with a surplus of about $1.5 million, even though the staff predicted the year would have a deficit of $800,000 or more.
Finance Director Michael Mondschain presented the final fiscal year 2011 report to the village board last week with what he said was proof of an economy that’s improving slightly from the recession a few years ago.
Mondschain had budgeted a deficit of $859,885 for 2011, but with higher sales taxes, a sizable increase in building permits and tightened expenditures, the year ended with a $1.5 million surplus.
Building permits were up 130 percent in the village and sales tax was up about 3.7 percent, Mondschain said. Sales tax receipts came in above 8 million for the first time since 2008, when the economy plummeted.
“Departments are cutting back wherever they can and that’s reflected here too,” Mondschain said of the reduced expenditures that contributed to the surplus. The surplus was also caused by transferring money from different funds into the general fund, a practice the village staff said they hope not to continue in the future.
Expenditures were about $1 million under budget because of not filling empty positions and other cost-cutting measures, he said, adding that Wheeling’s operating budget has stayed around $30 million each year since 2007, which Mondschain said is noteworthy since costs go up every year.
Mondschain has recommended that the village put the surplus money back into the fund balances the village has been borrowing from, such as the capital projects fund.
The village has a policy of keeping at least 25 percent of the annual budget in reserve, but has consistently been much higher than that. In 2007 the village had $20.2 million or 69 percent of it’s budget in reserve, but by 2010 that number was reduced to $13.6 million or 44 percent of the budget. With the surplus in 2011 the fund balance is back up to 15.7 million or 52 percent of the operating budget, which bond rating agencies like to see.
The 2012 budget also has a projected deficit, but Mondschain said if the year turns out like 2011, that deficit could turn into a surplus as well.