The City of Carroll’s Fiscal Year 2020 (FY) ended on June 30 and City Clerk and Finance Director, Laura Schaefer, and City Manager, Mike Pogge-Weaver, recently outlined the year-end state of the city’s finances. Pogge-Weaver says he wants to emphasize that even with COVID-19, the shut-down of some of the city’s services, the cancellation of youth programs, etc., the city really did end the year in a pretty strong position. He does want to address one common misconception.
Schaefer says although certain funds did end the year with a surplus, they actually dipped into reserves. This, however, she says was planned.
One of the major funds the city focuses on is the General Fund.
Local Option Sales Tax (L.O.S.T.) proceeds were a concern for many of the Carroll City Council members as they planned for upcoming projects. Schaefer says that anticipated decreases from COVID-19 just did not arise based on estimates received from the Iowa Department of Revenue in the past two weeks. The current predictions have the City of Carroll earmarked for an increase of about seven percent. Schaefer explains that they will receive 95 percent of their estimated total each month and then in November, a “true up” payment is calculated. The annual reporting for FY2020 can be found on the city’s website at www.cityofcarroll.com/finance.
