Joliet’s year-end finances even better than expected

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Updated: March 23, 2012 8:15AM

JOLIET — The city’s balance sheet took another leap to the plus side by the end of the year, turning what was expected to be an operational deficit into a surplus.

Joliet ended 2011 with a $3.4 million surplus in its operating budget, according to a report to the Joliet City Council Finance Committee on Tuesday.

The good news was the latest turn for the better on the 2011 budget.

At the beginning of the year, the 2011 budget was predicted to be $16 million in the red. By November, the year-end operating deficit had dropped to a range of $2 million to $3 million.

Tuesday’s good news, however, was tempered by some city officials cautioning that the city’s financial outlook is not so rosy, and one council member contending that a tax hike was approved based on budget numbers that were “far off.”

“We’re not generating enough revenues to cover both our operating expenses and our capital expenses,” Finance Director Rachel Mayer told the committee.

Mayer noted that once the city’s capital expenses — money spent on projects and new equipment — were counted into the budget, the city ended the year with a $1 million deficit.

“Even though the last quarter was good, we’re still not out of the woods as far as the budget goes,” Mayor Thomas Giarrante said later at a full council meeting.

Giarrante and the city administration are still trying to convince city unions to agree to contract concessions to plug a budget hole predicted for the 2012 budget.

The 2012 budget is bolstered by $6.5 million in higher sales and utility taxes, which, one council member noted, were approved in September when the city’s financial outlook was believed to be much worse than it turned out.

Councilman Robert O’Dekirk, noting the year-end numbers, said, “I do have a little issue with how far off we were, especially when some key votes were based on that.”

O’Dekirk commended the city staff for doing a “great job” in getting a grip on city expenses.

But he later said the city’s financial situation “is $20 million better than we thought” when the vote for the tax increase took place.

September’s tax hike vote was divided 5-4 with O’Dekirk among the no votes.