Mayor Tartaro Releases $16.6m Budget

Late last week, Mayor Marc Tartaro and Hyattsville city administrators released the proposed budget for fiscal year 2014, which begins on July 1. 

The financial pressures which the city is under are readily apparent. Total revenues are projected to be down by slightly more than $1 million, coming in at $14.4 million.

Total expenditures come in at $16.6 million, leaving the city with a $2.1 million budget deficit. Total expenditures are up by slightly more than $1 million over the current year's budget. However, if you consider that the city is anticipated to close out this fiscal year $1.1 million under budget, proposed expenditures would be roughy $1.6 million more than the current fiscal year. 

This deficit will be paid out of the city's $8.3 million reserve fund balance, taking the city's financial reserves down to $6.2 million after fiscal year 2014 is up. 

A much smaller property tax haul for the city is the biggest downward force on Hyattsville's municipal revenue stream. As a result of declining property values, the city's property tax revenue is projected to be down roughly $1.2 million under the current year. 

Also affecting the proposed budget, on the expenditure side, is a massive $1.6 million line item to establish a trust fund to pay for retiree health care costs under the city's current post-employment health care plans. Mayor Marc Tartaro has been pushing the city council to find a way to reign in the cost of retiree health care, but so far the council has yet to coalesce around a proposed fix. 

Despite these budgetary pressures, only two city departments, the police department and the Department of Community and Economic Development, will have a smaller line item than anticipated expenditures for the current year. 

The proposed budget cuts roughly $400,000 from the Hyattsville City Police Department. As previously reported by Patch, reducing the size of the police force to roughly 40 personnel. 

The proposed budget also cuts roughly $70,000 from the Department of Community and Economic Development. 

The Department of Public Works, under the proposed budget, sees its bottom line rise by more than $100,000 as a result of increased spending on street operations and maintenance. 

The general government line item, which includes city functions like finance, legal, human resources, city administrator and information technology roles, sees the biggest spending increase, up more than double from $1.4 million to $3.3 million. The vast majority of this increase comes from the appropriation of funds to pay for retiree health care benefits. 

Hyattsville is projected to enter the next fiscal year with $12.5 million in bonded debt, leaving the city with a debt margin of $19.5 million. 

The city is projected to pay $1.7 million in debt service over the next year. Over the next five years, those payments are projected to drop to $1.3 million if the city doesn't take on any more debt.