Revenue Outlook Not Promising
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The financial news locally has been pretty dismal, with unemployment leaping, real estate stagnant, and government at every level looking for ways to cut costs. We’ve been somewhat fortunate in Kelso, having taken pretty conservative approaches to spending in the past. Those strategies left us without having to make severe cuts, even as the economy dipped.
However, it’s beginning to look like revenues aren’t going to hit even our conservative projections. Through March, we’re seeing that:
- Sales tax is projecting about $50,000 lower than budgeted due to general reductions in spending and construction
- Gambling tax (lowered by the council from 10% to 6% for six months) is projected at about $75,000 under budget
- Real estate excise tax, collected on the sale of property, is on pace to be off $65,000 from budget
- Building permit revenue, budgeted to include $120,000 from the River Road condo project, could suffer if that project does not move forward
- Interest income was budgeted at 2.5%, but has been closer to 1.0% in the state investment pool
- Engineering, planning and zoning fees were budgeted at $95,000, but have only been $4,000 through March
