GAINESVILLE – Budget season is underway for the City of Gainesville. For a second consecutive work session city council members heard the 2020 budget plans and needs of a city-supported agency.
The annual exercise of balancing predicted revenues with demands for city-provided services is an ongoing enterprise according to Gainesville City Manager Bryan Lackey, a process, he once told AccessWDUN, begins in February and culminates in June.
Lackey says he senses, as he speaks with each of his department heads, that the FY2020 budget will be very similar in scope to the current FY2019 budget. “It’s going to be very similar,” Lackey said Thursday working after the city council work session, “we’ve had a good year…we’re seeing steady growth, not explosive growth.”
“We are keeping an eye to the future knowing that we have been in a long period of economic growth, that down turns are inevitable…we know that the economic development growth we’ve seen over the past seven to eight years can’t go on forever…so we’re looking to mimic what we have done for the current fiscal year,” Lackey said.
Gainesville Chief Financial Officer Jeremy Perry agrees. When asked if the city was experiencing stronger-than-expected revenues like Hall County government, Perry said, “We’re the same way: we have TAVTs up and our LOST is up as well. And I’m doing the same thing the county is: staying reserved.”
“Those two things can easily change overnight so it’s better to be a little conservative,” Perry explained.
Lackey said, “We’re early into it (budget preparation) so I think most city departments are going to see roughly the same budget they had last year (FY2019).”
A year ago the city’s budget called for pay increases for city workers in the hope of attracting and retaining the most qualified individuals possible. “We had to address some marketplace inequities on that,” Lackey said referring to the FY2019 budget increases. “Luckily, I think, the marketplace has flattened out, settled a little bit…so we don’t have quite the challenge that we usually have there.”
“It’s always a challenge for us,” Lackey said about keeping employees with the city. “Typically the government jobs don’t pay quite as much as our marketplace competitors…but we’re not seeing what we have seen in the past couple of years.”
Lackey says he expects to have the FY2020 budget ready for any required public hearings and a vote by the city council in June, with the millage rate being determined then, as well.
