The national economic downturn has made its way into city coffers as the City of Bellaire recorded a drop of more than $30,000 in permit fees for the first three months of the fiscal year 2009, which ended Dec. 31, 2008.
In the first quarter of fiscal year 2008, the city brought in $124,584 in permits. For the same period in fiscal year 2009, that number dropped to $94,553.
“This isn’t unanticipated, and we need to act accordingly,” said City Manager Bernie Satterwhite. “It’s not great news, but that’s something you pay us for – to work these issues. The economy isn’t always going to be good.”
Satterwhite says the city will take a hard look at the mid-year review in April and decide if adjustments to the budget need to be made. If so, he says, those adjustments will most likely not even be noticeable to residents.
“We can make it kind of seamless and unnoticeable to the public,” said Satterwhite, who added that city services will not likely be cut. Options on the table for the city, should revenues continue to decrease, include postponing capital improvement projects already on the table.
“Rebuild Bellaire is a 10-year capital program that might have to be a 12-year program if the economy gets tight,” said Satterwhite. “You might have to delay things a little bit. As far as day-to-day operations, I don’t envision a lot of change there one way or another.”
Satterwhite said Bellaire is fortunate in that the city does not depend heavily on one type of revenue, such as sales tax, and is not likely to experience the drop in property values that other cities across the nation have seen. Satterwhite does not expect, however, for property values to increase as much as they have in years past.
“They aren’t going to rise as fast because the market isn’t there,” said Satterwhite. “The market drives the property values. I hate to sound overly optimistic, but I’m trying to be realistic as well. I don’t think this is a problem.”
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