The Greenville City Council approved a $12.9 million budget for the 2012-13 fiscal year at its Monday meeting.

The budget represents a $1.6 million decrease from the budget approved by the Council for the 2011-12 fiscal year.

“The majority of the decrease has to do with the number of grants we received last year that had to be included in the budget,” Greenville Mayor Dexter McLendon said.

City Clerk Sue Arnold said this year’s budget includes approximately $1.3 million less in grants.

“Grants can significantly affect your bottom line because you are increasing both revenue and expenditures giving an appearance of major growth, but we are not expecting, and therefore did not budget for, anything more than minimal growth in revenue,” she said.

The City has budgeted nearly $1.8 million for grant revenue to help fund various projects such as extending the taxiway and remodeling the terminal at Mac Crenshaw Memorial Airport, improvements to the industrial access road to Hysco America, upgrades to Beeland Park Complex and Dunbar Park and the purchase of two new weather alert sirens.

“These are all worthwhile projects that are saving the city thousands of dollars,” Arnold said.

McLendon praised the City’s department heads for their work on the budget.

“They did a great job,” he said. “This is a very tight budget, and I think it’s a good budget. There could be some changes down the road, but this is a very good starting point and Sue and the department heads deserve the credit for that.”

A complete copy of the city’s budget is available to the City Clerk’s office.

 

Budget Breakdown

• Mayor’s Office                                                 $138,286
• City Inspector’s Office                                   $237,161
• Clerk’s Office                                                   $402,927
• Fire Department                                             $1,492,800
• Police Department                                         $2,416,187
• Recreation Department                                $537,861
• Seasonal Recreation                                      $110,350
• Adult Nutrition                                                $93,458
• Senior Services                                                $15,190
• Greenville-Butler County Public Library  $169,624
• Street Department                                          $1,018,870
• Sanitation Department                                 $741,303
• Buildings/Grounds                                        $203,113
• Horticulture Department                              $432,411
• Mac Crenshaw Memorial Airport              $38,975
• Sherling Lake                                                  $212,773
• Ritz Theatre                                                      $19,375