GAINESVILLE – Gainesville City Manager Bryan Lackey made his official Fiscal Year 2021 budget presentation Tuesday evening, telling members of the city council said he was glad to be putting the FY2020 budget behind him.
Even though FY2020 ends June 30th, calendar year 2020 holds no sweet spot in Lackey’s thinking. “I think I will say, that even though we have a good seven months left in the (calendar) year…I think we can go ahead and call it: the year 2020 sucks!” he said with a laugh.
Last week Lackey presented the budget to the city council during its work session and said the COVID-19 pandemic, arriving just as his team was putting the finishing touches on the budget, changed everything and his department heads had to start over.
A total budgeting restart was necessary, Lackey explained, because he knew once Governor Brian Kemp ordered state offices, non-essential businesses and schools closed in mid-March that revenues would be severely impacted and budgetary cuts would have to be made somewhere.
Lackey did say that while the new FY2021 budget is $3.141-million dollars, or 9.8-percent less than the FY2020 budget, it isn’t as austere as it may seem. “This is not a Great Recession budget or a Great Depression budget, it’s not that bad, but it is a pretty conservative budget.”
Among notable cost cutting measures in the budget are $2.68-million in reduced spending for capital improvements, a hiring freeze for all General Fund Departments and no pay increases for employees.
The only other option to cutting the budget, Lackey told council members, was increasing taxes, and he did not want to do that. “We decided through your input that we don’t need to burden our citizens with anything remotely looking like a tax increase.”
A full roll back on the millage rate is a part of the FY2021 budget. Lackey ended on an optimistic note, saying he felt recovery would come quickly. “I think in a short matter of time we’ll be back to the level of investment in our community that we need to make.”
A time for public comment followed Lackey’s presentation of the FY2021 budget but no one stepped forward to speak. Final approval of the FY2021 budget is expected at the city council’s June 16th voting session.
For a link to the FY2021 budget and Lackey’s presentation to the city council click here.
