West Newsmagazine 11-27-19

16 I NEWS I
November 27, 2019
WEST NEWSMAGAZINE
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Ballwin Board examines special
revenues fund for 2020 budget
By JEFFRY GREENBERG
The conversation around the 2020 Ballwin
city budget continued at the Board of Aldermen
meeting held Nov. 11 as Finance Officer
Denise Keller presented how the budget
relates to the city’s special revenue funds.
Keller focused on five specific funds: the
Special Allocation Fund used to make payments
to TIF bonds; the Transportation
Development District fund; the Sewer Lateral
Fund; the Federal Asset Seizure Fund, which
includes the purchase and use of police body
cameras; and the POST Fund for peace officer
standards and training.
“It’s a training fund and the revenues for
this come from fees that are attached to court
fines,” Keller explained of the POST Fund,
which is expected to see decreasing revenue
in the next two years.
“When court fines go up, our payment
from the state of Missouri goes up,” Keller
explained. “When our fines go down, our
payments go down, and there’s about a year
lag on this. So, we did get a good payment in
2019, but 2020 will drop and 2021 will also
drop.”
By far the greatest amount of dialogue
at the Nov. 11 meeting took place over the
Sewer Lateral Fund. Keller said she expects
a slight decline in those revenues because it
was discovered that some condominiums in
Ballwin that have more than seven dwelling
units were being charged assessment fees, but
should not have been. So, not only will that
reduce revenues each year by about $7,000,
but Ballwin is in the process of reimbursing
those taxpayers for fees that they paid in the
past. Over a two-year period, that amounts to
about $56,000.
“Fortunately, we’re in a good place with
this fund,” Keller said. “We had been paying
out expenses in excess of what we were collecting.
We had a backlog on repairs. But the
board passed legislation back in 2015 that
kind of tightened up the rules on that, and it’s
paying off. We’re only processing about half
as many reimbursements for lateral repair. So,
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our expenses are way down, which is really
good timing considering those refunds.”
“I wouldn’t have expected significant
revenues over expenditures,” City Attorney
Robert E. Jones said of the Sewer Lateral
Fund. “We should be closer to breaking even.
We just need to be careful with this because
this is not a profit-maker.”
Questions then arose as to why the city’s
Sewer Lateral Fund payouts have been
decreasing. Part of the explanation is that
Ballwin currently has no backlog for those
needing such repairs.
Jones also wanted to know if Ballwin was
rejecting people more often than before and
also if homeowners have to show proof of
sewer backups, actual failure or evidence of
cracks.
Keller said that in the past, the city was
paying out just if there were roots in the sewer
lines, which is quite common. She also said
that Ballwin previously was getting a lot of
requests from real estate agents trying to get
a home’s sewer lateral replaced before putting
the property on the market. Issuing funds
for those cases has decreased drastically.
“The bottom line is we’re going to be
way ahead of a balanced budget and I think
that’s important,” said City Administrator
Bob Kuntz. “The conservative nature of the
city continues to put us in a good position
despite the fact that sales tax revenue is just
not heading in the right direction; not just
for Ballwin but in general, and until ... we
can capture ... an Internet sales tax, there’s
no magic pill to reverse that trend. So it is a
long-term concern since that’s 45% of our
budget.
“Denise should be commended and the
department heads as well. The budget is once
again fiscally conservative, and you’ll see
that we continue to do more with less. I think
that’s a tribute to the staff,” Kuntz added.
“I sit here and listen to our budgets year
after year, and they’re always balanced,”
Alderman Ray Kerlagon [Ward 4] said.
“Why can’t we get the federal government to
do that?”
Not just a place to live. A place to thrive.
12826 Daylight Circle | Des Peres, MO 63131
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SCHEDULES, from page 12
The Missouri State Teachers Association
[MSTA] opposed the new law on the
grounds that districts should have the ability
to create their own calendars.
“We think that it’s important to consider
the local impact of the school calendar and
certain events that a community supports
or things that are important locally,” Matt
Michelson, government relations manager
at MSTA, said.
Previously, schools also could start earlier
after public notice, open meetings and
passage by the school board.
That alternative is not an option under
the new law.
“We’ve had a lot of changes to school
calendars over the last two to three years,”
Michelson said. “School districts are still
going to be able to negotiate their calendars.
They’re just going to be in a tighter
box now.”
• • •
West Newsmagazine reporter Bonnie
Krueger contributed to this article.