Photo obtained via the city of Avondale Estates website.

The City of Avondale Estates has published its proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2015. Avondale’s budget runs from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31. The draft is included at the end of this article.

The proposed budget for 2015 is $2.9 million. It would increase city spending by 12.3 percent, $320,674 more than 2014. The city predicts it will collect $2.9 million in revenue.

The budget forecasts an additional $91,909 in revenue this year. Most of it – $87,035 – is expected to come from licenses, fees and occupational taxes.

Decaturish asked City Manager Clai Brown some questions about the draft 2015 budget. Here are his answers.

Q: The Public Works Roadways and Walkways expenditure increased from $10,000 in 2014 to $140,879 in 2015. Why the large increase?

Brown: The increase is for paving roads and repair of broken sidewalks.

Q: How many full time employees work for the police department and how many work for city administration?  

Brown: Thirteen in police and seven in administration.

Q: Does the city intend to fill the vacant Parks and Recreation Director position? 

Brown: Yes.

Q: Can you elaborate on the line $15,000 item for updates to the Historic Review Board and Architectural Review Board guidelines? 

Brown: The HPC/ARB have requested to update the design guidelines. This is a placeholder for the update if the BOMC approves it.

Q: Why is there a $48,582 increase in spending for building plan reviews and inspections under general government expenditures? 

Brown: All permits have been added to one line item in revenues and this is the offset of expenditure against the revenues.

Q: It looks like you are projecting decrease in a few different categories of tax revenue, including personal property taxes and motor vehicle taxes. Why are you expecting less revenue in these categories for 2015?

Brown: These line items are budgeted from the consolidated worksheet that is sent to the City from the Tax Assessors office.

Q: We noticed there’s a line item for City Commission expenditures of $1,700. The commission serves on a volunteer basis. What does this money pay for? 

Brown: Training. Q: Could you elaborate a little on the training City Commissioners receive? Brown: There is no definitive class established at this time for training.  The budgeted line item is for training that one may need to take at Carl Vinson Institute or Georgia Municipal Association, etc.

Avondale Estates City Commissioners will hold a public hearing on the budget Nov. 17.

2015 Proposed Budget – October 10th

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