Posted in Escambia County, Politics

City Finance budget jumped 29 percent in five years

   July 16, 2018

It’s difficult to ask city departments to be frugal and fiscally conservative when the Chief Financial Officer’s budget has grown more than $1.4 million since FY 2014–a 29.3 percent jump.

During Mayor Ashton Hayward’s first term, Financial Services and Technology Resources were separate departments, we combined them for FY 2012 and FY 2014 to generate a fair comparison to FY 2019 proposed budget, which has Technology under CFO Dick Barker.

FY 2012 was Hayward’s first budget, which had $5.36 million  for Financial Services and Technology. By FY 2014, he had cut those budgets by 9.5 percent, saving the taxpayers  over a half a million dollars.

His proposed budget for next year is nearly $6.3 million, costing the taxpayers $1.42 million more than five years ago.

Financial Services FY  2012 FY 2014 FY 2019
 Personal Services          3,596,364          3,256,200          3,918,500
 Operating Expense          1,501,394          1,545,700          2,154,200
 Capital Outlay             261,334               46,400             198,000
         5,359,092          4,848,300          6,270,700

 

The budget breaks down the expense by the department programs.  The basic accounting programs, under General Fund, were reduced by $129,704 for FY 2014 but have since climbed $282,200–51 percent.

Risk Management has stayed steady since FY 2014. However, Central Services has grown $804,000 (42.7 percent) since FY 2014 – despite eliminating the technology administrator position.

 

Programs
General Fund FY  2012 FY 2014 FY 2019
Accounting               74,038               67,600             429,600
Accts Payable/Rec.             148,097               90,900                       –
Budget               29,703               60,200               62,500
Contract Services                       –                       –               84,100
Payroll             154,182             197,800             200,800
Purchasing             302,676             139,700               61,400
Total General             708,696             556,200             838,400
Risk Mgmt             878,815          1,180,000          1,207,400
Central Services
Capital Accumulation             203,394               46,400                       –
Info Mgmt             665,801             736,400             998,400
Mail Room             112,385               88,200               83,800
Network Mgmt             448,322             615,700          1,137,900
Public Safety             219,507             199,200             254,400
Tech Resources                       –                       –             210,800
Administrator             306,344             195,400                       –
Public Information             250,479                       –                       –
Total Central          2,206,232          1,881,300          2,685,300

 

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