Boston Ends FY16 with a $1.9M Surplus
Revenues $25.9M over budget, spending exceeded appropriations by $24.0M
The City of Boston ended FY16 with a $1.9M General Fund operating surplus, smaller than the $7.4M surplus in FY15. The surplus is due to the fact that actual receipts exceeded budgeted revenues by $25.9M, which was greater than the $24.0M that actual spending exceeded final appropriations. The General Fund surplus represents 0.07% of city spending totaling $2.88B.
| FY16 General Fund Summary | |||
| Figures in Millions | |||
| Budget | Actual | Variance | |
| Revenues | $2,857.1 | $2,883.0 | $25.9 |
| Expenditures | $2,857.1 | $2,881.1 | ($24.0) |
| Surplus | $1.9 | ||
Expenditures
The $24M in spending over appropriations is driven by public safety overtime and legal claims. Police and Fire Department overtime costs contributed to a combined departmental deficit of $19.5M. In the FY17 budget, the City increased the Police and Fire overtime budgets and expects both to manage spending within their budgets which would be a savings over FY16 actuals. Additionally, court judgments and legal claims paid by the City exceeded its budget by $7.0M in FY16. A mild winter kept snow removal costs within budget in FY16.
|
FY16 Select Spending Accounts |
|||
|
Figures in millions |
|||
| Budget | Actual | Variance | |
| Police | $332.5 | $348.9 | ($16.3) |
| Fire | $213.7 | $216.9 | ($3.2) |
| Judgments & Claims | $3.5 | $10.5 | ($7.0) |
| Snow Removal | $14.8 | $14.8 | $0.0 |
Revenues
The City’s prudent practice of conservatively estimating its revenues once again produced a revenue surplus at year end. Actual receipts of $2.883B in FY16 were $25.9M over budget estimates. The excise revenue surplus of $44.5M included motor vehicle, room occupancy, meals, aircraft fuel, and other small accounts. Building permit receipts were $19.3M or 58.4% over budget. State aid was $2.5M less than expected due mainly to the state only funding the charter tuition reimbursement at 56.9% of its full obligation.
|
FY16 Select Revenue Accounts |
|||
|
Figures in millions |
|||
| Budget | Actual | Variance | |
| Property Tax | $1,923.4 | $1,925.0 | $1.6 |
| State Aid | $424.0 | $421.6 | ($2.5) |
| Excise Receipts | $179.4 | $223.8 | $44.5 |
| PILOTs* | $91.7 | $99.3 | $7.7 |
| Building Permits | $33.0 | $52.3 | $19.3 |
| Free Cash | $40.0 | $0.0 | ($40.0) |
| Parking Meter Fund | $20.5 | $0.0 | ($20.5) |
| *includes PILOT program, Massport PILOT and 121A payments | |||
For the fifth year in a row, the revenue surplus allowed the City to forego using revenues initially budgeted for operations. The City did not use $40M in free cash, $20.5M from the Parking Meter Fund and $1M in Cemetery Trust Funds. From approved appropriations for other purposes, the City was also able to transfer $12M to the Boston Retirement System at year-end to help mitigate its investment loss in 2015.
