Mayor Tomlinson to present proposed fiscal 2017 budget to council Tuesday

Mayor Teresa Tomlinson and City Manager Isaiah Hugley will present the proposed fiscal 2017 budget to Columbus Council Tuesday afternoon at council’s regularly scheduled meeting.

Tomlinson declined to offer any specifics about the budget prior to presenting it to council, but did hint that the city’s reliance on its reserve funds to balance its budget over the last decade or more could be less of an issue in fiscal 2017.

“We are finally beginning to see our budget reform policies pay off,” Tomlinson said. “It’s still tough, but this will be the most responsible budget in 16 years from a use-of-reserve-funds standpoint.”

In the last 10 years, the city has dipped repeatedly into its reserves to balance budgets, dropping the fund from 130 days of reserves to just below 60 days, a level at which the city’s bond rating can be hurt.

The current fiscal 2016 budget is about $265.7 million, where it has hovered in the last few years. Over the same 10 years that the reserves have dropped precipitously, the city’s budget has grown from less than $200 million to a peak of $280 million in fiscal 2011, the back down to the current level. Much of the increase is due to the passage of the 2009 Other Local Option Sales Tax.

Council will hold numerous hearings on the fiscal 2017 budget, meeting as the Budget Review Committee. They are bound by law to approve a version of the budget in time to hold public hearings on the final product and hold first and second readings on it before voting before the close of the current fiscal year on June 30.

Also on Tuesday, council will hear nominations from Hugley for two new department heads.

Hugley has said he will nominate Angelica Alexander to be the new finance director, to replace Pam Hodge, who was promoted to deputy city manager. Alexander has been serving as the assistant finance director.

He will also nominate John Hudgison to be the new Inspections and Codes director, to replace Greg Coates, who resigned in 2014. Hudgison has been serving as interim director of the department.

This story was originally published April 25, 2016 at 3:06 PM with the headline "Mayor Tomlinson to present proposed fiscal 2017 budget to council Tuesday."