By MELINDA J. OVERSTREET
for Glasgow News 1
As the proposed budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1 is about to be distributed, the Glasgow Common Council Finance Committee continues to keep an eye on the revenue and expenses for the year with less than six weeks left.
At its meeting Tuesday evening, the panel members spent the better part of their nearly one hour together reviewing the current financial situation and how it’s projected to look when this fiscal year ends June 30.
They were provided with four separate documents with the figures broken down in different ways. For the General Fund, which includes most of the city government’s functions – e.g. administrative, legislative, police, fire, emergency communications, parks and recreation, the majority of public works and the South Central Kentucky Cultural Center – had a bit more than $22.1 million in revenues budgeted and, as of the end of April, had actual revenues of approximately $20.6 million. Expenses were budgeted at roughly $31.8 million, but actual expenses had totaled approximately $19.5 million as of that date. The main reason the actual expenses were considerably less than budgeted was simply a matter of timing, in that some major projects are not and won’t be completed, but those expenses will still be expected in the year to come.
That left the actual revenue over expenses at $1,115,461, rounded, with two months left to go in the fiscal year at that time, and not much additional revenue coming but perhaps as much as 4.5 times that amount in expenses by June 30.
A similar breakdown of figures was provided for the other funds, such as sanitation/landfill, cemetery and municipal road aid.
Those budgeted and actual figures only show the picture within this fiscal year, and do not reflect balances that were carried over from the previous years. The amount of actual funds in the city’s main, day-to-day bank account as of April 30 was $16.4 million.
This month’s report from HdL Companies, which was contracted to identify and collect from businesses doing work in Glasgow but not paying the local occupational/net profit taxes, was that it had collected $1,865.72. Per the contract, the city gets half of that, or $932.86.
City Treasurer Stephanie Garrett said the proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year, FY ’26, will be distributed to council members Friday. The first reading of the ordinance that would adopt that budget is expected to be on the agenda for the June 9 full council meeting.
The report on the audit of the city’s financial records for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2024, or FY ’24, is expected to be completed the first week of June. The finance committee, which normally meets on the third Tuesday of the month, is likely to have a special-called meeting once that report is available so the auditors can discuss it in a bit more detail with them ahead of the full council meeting, where the verbal summary is typically a little briefer than with the committee.
The next regular meeting of the panel is at 5:30 p.m. June 17 in the council conference room on Floor 2 of the Luska J. Twyman Municipal Building, 126 E. Public Square.
