San Ramon's finances in better shape than expected
By Sophia Kazmi | Bay Area News Group, MediaNews, Tri-Valley Herald, Mercury News
SAN RAMON — San Ramon is better off financially this year than it expected.
The city spent less money and earned more in revenues during the last fiscal year than it thought it would.
The city revenues for the fiscal year ending June 30 was $36.7 million, about $1.2 million more than what was projected, according to report given to the San Ramon City Council last week. The figures are unaudited numbers, said Eva Phelps, the city's administrative services director.
An audited report is a final report about the city's general fund — the account that pays for the day-to-day costs of operating the city.
The city also didn't not spend as much money as it expected to during the 2010-2011 fiscal year. The city budgeted to spend $37.9 million and spent only $36.5 million, according to the unaudited figures.
Department vacancies played a major role in the under-spending, Phelps said. The city has a pay and hiring freeze in place.
With the approximately $2.6 million in savings, the city had to spend far less of its reserve fund than it expected to get by last fiscal year — using just $600,000 in reserve funds, instead of $3.2 million, Phelps said.
The city's reserves, a rainy-day fund, now stand at $33.4 million, which is 92 percent of the general fund expenditures. City policy requires the general fund to be at least 50 percent of the general fund expenditures.
The numbers are unaudited. An audited report on the general fund is expected early next year.
Contact Sophia Kazmi at 925-847-2122. Follow her at Twitter.com/sophiakazmi.
Sophia Kazmi
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