(Steve Berentson photo)
Mayor Dean Maxwell highlighted the city's finances during his annual state of the city speech to a lunch meeting of the Chamber of Commerce on Thursday, saying the city is seeing "a few sprouts of green."
Mayor Dean Maxwell called 2009 "an extremely challenging year for each of us and for the City," referring the down economy the city and the country went through last year.
"Sales tax revenues were down 21% from the prior year, building permits were down 3%, Real Estate Excise Tax (REET) was down 30%, Impact Fees down 10%, and Investment ncome down 51%," the Mayor said.
But, he said the city has started to see some green. Building permit activity picked up in the last 3 months of the year. But, he said sales tax revenue picked up in the second half of the year, but they are still well below a year ago.
Despite the economic downtown, Maxwell said the 2010 budget is a balanced budget that doesn't use any of the city's cash reserves. Maxwell said the city's investments outperformed the state pool by 2.52% over the year.
He touched on a number of accomplishments the city achieved last year, among them the reconstruction of the Tommy Thompson trestle, which was damaged by fire last October.
Maxwell said the city has removed over 150 tons of creosote material which will be replaced by treated wood. "Trusses are now being built to replace the damaged support structure and fundraising is proceeding with lots of support and enthusiasm from our community," he added.