Challenges may face the city of El Centro in the near future, but for now, the city’s finances are in order.
The City Council heard its mid-year budget review Tuesday, going over numbers for the first six months of the fiscal year, from July 1 to Dec. 31.
The city received about 31 percent of its revenue during that time, which is normal, said Finance Director Leticia Salcido. Some large payments don’t come in until January, like some of the motor vehicle in-lieu tax payment and sales and use taxes. The city has spent about 47 percent of its budgeted amount, which is also in line with what was projected.
“We are expected to meet our budget projections through the end of the year,” she added.
However, there will be some difficulties that will have to be taken into consideration for the next fiscal year, Salcido warned the council. There are a number of projects in the works, and the council may have to prioritize some projects over others.
Those projects include an aquatics center to be built as part of the sports complex on Adams Avenue and Eighth Street, as well as building a new library and police station. There will also have to be action taken to clean up a dump site near Imperial Valley College and within city limits. The total budget for all of the projects, including operation costs, that the city will have to address in the near future adds up to more than $25 million. No final date for any of these projects was discussed, but Salcido told the council the cleanup of the site would have to take place next fiscal year.
There are other issues the city will have to address.
With recent sequestration cuts to the federal budget, the city has been advised that it may have funding cut from its Community Development Block Grants, which is funded through the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The city was advised Tuesday that it may have to cut its portion of CDBG funding by 5 percent, which would bring it from $470,000 to about $446,000, said Marcela Piedra, director of economic development for the city. Piedra reported as a follow-up to a discussion that took place in February about the grant funding.
Staff had talked about putting money into field lighting for Carlos Aguilar Park, as well as a number of grants to public service agencies like Catholic Charities’ senior nutrition program, the El Centro Police Athletic League, Womanhaven and the Child Abuse Prevention Council. No final decision has been voted on by the council as to what will be funded for next year.
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