HUTCHINSON, Kan. — It is no surprise that the Hutchinson City Council decided it wanted city staff to make more cuts to the 2018 budget to balance the books and avoid raising the mill levy and spending down cash reserves.
City Manager John Deardoff had informed members of the Hutchinson City Council by email that they are projected to spend more next year with the city budget than they are set to bring in with revenue.
The council would like to hold the mill levy at 2017 levels, so that means addressing the structural imbalance between spending and revenues and look for additional budget cuts in operating funds.
The majority of cuts so far involve wage savings as a result of open vacancies throughout the year. Additional budget reductions totaled $919,000 with $500,000 of that being attributed to open vacancy projections.
But, he says they’ll still maintain a structural imbalance in the General Fund. As it stands right now, they have budgeted expenses exceeding projected revenues by $1.6 million. He says they want to cut any use of cash reserves by $800,000.
Deardoff believes they can still find additional reductions to eliminate any need for a mill increase. He told us that he already has some things that he’s working on, but didn’t specify what they were. He says the council will take up the budget again next week.