City May Restore Some Funds to Chamber

By Matt Poms Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Williamsburg Finance Director Phil Serra unveiled proposed changes to the City of Williamsburg’s budget for next year at the City Council work session Monday. Included were an extra $50,000 in funding to the Greater Williamsburg Chamber and Tourism Alliance and reduced city contributions to the Virginia Peninsula Regional Jail Authority and the Williamsburg Area Arts Commission.

The Chamber's funding in the first draft of the budget was $627,000, down nearly 29 percent from the current year. City Manager Jack Tuttle in March described the reduction as a reflection of "sharp declines in room and meal tax dollars and the inability to make up the differences from other sources.” The city also received an additional $57,459 in state 599 funds that were restored by the General Assembly, and found additional sales tax revenue. $83,134 was added to the operating contingency to balance the budget.

“This is the first year the sales tax fund will be taking in more than it is spending,” Tuttle said.

The city’s Arts Commission funding was reduced after James City County cut its share of funding to the cooperative.

“That’s a situation where the city and James City County are funding [the commission] proportionally, so we thought it would be best for those levels to remain at 50-50,” Serra said.

Left unfunded was a single police officer position for which the city is attempting to attain federal funding. Tuttle said that money could be taken from the operating contingency or other sources if federal funding was not received.

“We applied for [federal] money a year ago and did not get it,” he said. “Then we received a letter a week and a half ago indicating there were some 6,000 local governments in the country that did not receive money last time, and about 500 of them are going to receive money this round. So we’ve got maybe a 1 in 6 chance of receiving federal money.”

The budget’s operating contingency was left at slightly over $390,000 after the last minute increase.

“Any time we have money in the contingency at that level, it’s a good thing,” Tuttle said.

Elsewhere, the city reduced its contribution to the Virginia Peninsula Regional Jail Authority by $81,611, and allocated an extra $500 to high-speed rail.

The city council is expected to vote on the budget at its Thursday meeting.

Read an earlier story about the proposed budget here.