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A budget is a financial document that estimates how much in taxes and other revenue the city will receive in a year in addition to its expenses. The city has proposed and approved this budget, but it is merely an estimate. It will likely stay the same, but unexpected revenues and costs are possible throughout the year. The amended budget at the end of the fiscal year displays the city’s final revenues and expenses. 

Wilmore has two sections in its city budget, including governmental funds: revenues through taxes and fees Wilmore collects, as well as the expenses those revenues pay for like the city’s administration, public safety, parks and Recreation, and cemetery, and proprietary funds; the city’s business activities like the utilities that residents pay for. 

Governmental funds summary

The city of Wilmore receives revenues from eight sources. Starting with tax revenues, the city’s Financial Director, Lori Vahle, said Wilmore collects property taxes, payroll taxes, net profits taxes, insurance taxes (8 percent from all the insurance companies that sell policies within the city), and vehicle taxes, which are collected by the Jessamine County Clerk, which disburses Wilmore its share. 

The city also collects license and permit fees, which Vahle said include fees collected from business licenses, which the bank disburses to the city when someone applies for a business license in Wilmore. The city budget proposes it will make $715,000 on fees collected from taxes and $934,897 on fees collected from licenses and permits. 

Fines and forfeitures are another source of income in the city, with the proposed budget estimating it will bring in $1,700 this year. Vahle said this income comes from parking citations from the Wilmore Police Department and arrest fees the city receives from Circuit Court Clerk Doug Fain’s office. 

Another city revenue is municipal road aid, which the city has listed in its budget as $78,000 from road aid from the state and federal government for infrastructure repairs. The city plans to use most of what it will receive for the road aid, with the city’s subsequent expense listed at $75,000. 

The next item of the budget is labeled intergovernmental, which is listed as a $840,955 revenue. Vahle said, “A big part of that number is for fiscal year 2025, we’re getting $750,000 from our Community Development Block Grant (CDBG). That’s for [phase II of] the granary restoration project.” 

The city applied for this CDBG in 2022 and is anticipating the funding this fiscal year. 

Service charges and other revenues are the last two items for the city’s governmental revenue funds. 

Charges for services account for $99,000 of the city’s governmental funds revenue, which comes from rental fees the city charges people for renting out city hall and parks, softball fees, cemetery lights, and fees, donations from festival sponsors, and “a lot of recreation type things,” Vahle said. Other revenues are $427,450, and the city’s leftover ARPA funds account for $315,000 of that. 

In total, the city’s governmental funds revenues are $3,097.002.

Still in its Governmental Fund, Wilmore has ten expense sections, including public safety and city services

In the proposed 2024-2025 fiscal year budget, general administration will cost the city $663,388. Vahle said this includes salaries, benefits, building maintenance on city hall, office supplies, postage, security system, and utilities, which she says is “a lot.” Salaries are about $214,000 of the total amount, and the planning and zoning fee the city must pay to the Jessamine County Wilmore joint planning and zoning commission is $140,000. 

The city estimates it will spend $1,199,052 on the Wilmore Police Department. Last year’s amended fiscal year budget included $1,088,690 of expenses for the Police Department. The city estimates the WIlmore Fire Department will spend 181,955 this fiscal year.

This vast difference between the public safety departments can be attributed to the fact that Wilmore has a volunteer-run fire department. “They don’t have benefits [or retirement] but get paid for runs. Our chief and assistant fire chiefs get a salary. That’s why their budget is so low.” 

Vahle said the Police Department’s funding is spent on many of the same things that the General Administration and many department allocations pay for—salaries, all their benefits, building and vehicle maintenance, property, liability, and worker’s comp insurance. “It’s their uniforms, their training, their guns and shells expense, which is ‘huge, larger than what you would think,'” Vahle said. 

Municipal road aid is the next expense. The city has estimated an expense of $75,000 on this item this year. “This funding has to be used for sidewalk repair, road repair, or anything street-related,” Vahle said. 

Parks and Recreation’s estimated expense for the fiscal year is $219,797. The Parks and Recreation Department must pay for its portion of insurance, salaries, benefits, and use of utilities. This money is used to help run Wilmore’s Summer Recreation program and repair and provide upkeep to the city’s parks. For example, since the municipal center gym is the home of so many of the city’s recreational events, if the air conditioning went out, Parks and Recreation would pay for that. 

The Community Development Services item has a slotted amount of $1,157,846. This includes the city’s spending of the $740,000 CBDG and a match for the grant by the city of about 20 percent. This expense includes Wilmore Community Development Board Executive Director Judy Woolums’ salary. Also, there is “$207,000 of ARPA money for Downtown renovations,” Vahle said. 

Cemetery expenses are included, totaling $55,400. The Wilmore Cemetery is the only one in town. The most significant part of this expense is $40,000 for the salaries of two part-time employees who keep the cemetery “pretty,” Vahle said. The rest of it goes to equipment maintenance and beautification. 

The proposed budget has $108,585 in Capital outlay expenses. This expense will go towards a large long-term investment, like vehicles for city departments, and $45,000 for pickle ball courts, which Vahle said residents can expect to see next spring or summer. 

Debt service is listed at $138,000, which Vahle said is for payment of the city’s recent purchase of a fire truck.

After the city’s governmental fund revenues are applied to its total operating expense of $4,331,071, the city’s funds are in the negatives, at $1,234,069. Last year, Wilmore transferred funds from the Proprietary Funds Summary to balance the budget. This year is no different. 

Proprietary funds 

The city’s proprietary fund starts with the operating revenues and expenses of the city’s water service, sewer service, sanitation service, and other revenues. The city estimates in its budget that it will make $1,045,410 from its water services, which will cost $1,069,870. On the other hand, the sewer service is estimated to make $975,410 in revenue and $856,831 in expenses. There are currently no expenses or revenues listed in the sanitation services budget line since the city has stopped managing its sanitation services and has passed them on to Republic Services. Vahle said there will still be some revenues, but the city is still determining exactly how much. A final operating revenue is listed at $334,000. Vahle said most of that is money from the state for a sewer project on the Fitch’s IGA property. She said there’s a lot of flooding in the area after rain. 

RR&E, or Renewal, Replacement, and Extension expenses are listed as $50,000. This fund replaces and repairs essential elements of the city’s services and wastewater treatment plant. 

Capital purchases, an expense, are listed as $35,000. Vahle said this is because the city is budgeting to purchase a truck in 2025. The sewer project is listed as an expense of $300,000 since the city will use it on Fitch’s IGA project as soon as possible. 

The following few items are additional revenues. The city estimates it will receive $1,500,000 in occupational license fees from taxes this fiscal year. This is the city’s largest revenue. 

Lastly, the proprietary funds budget lists its interest income and expense. The interest income is $42,000, which comes from different investments Wilmore has, including a certificate of deposit. The city’s interest expense is much higher, at $118,043. Vahle said this expense comes from a loan on the wastewater tower and treatment plant and interest on a bond issued on the sewer plant. 

The income from Proprietary Funds after expenses is $1,417,287, of which the city transferred $1,300,000 to balance the governmental funds budget, leaving the city with $65,931 in its fund balance.