WPCNR QUILL AND EYESHADE. By John F. Bailey. August 15, 2006: The Mayor’s Office confirmed to WPCNR Friday that the city sales tax for the final quarter of fiscal year 2005-2006 met its budgeted figure, finishing at $41,886,267, just about meeting the 2005-2006 budget projection of $41,950,000. City Hall Commissioner of Finance, Gina Cuneo-Harwood told WPCNR Friday the city received $9,374,687 in sales tax for the fourth quarter, this figure is down slightly from the fourth quarter of 2004-2005 when the city received $9,632,210 in sales tax. Asked if the city accomplished a surplus for 2005-2006, Harwood said “We do not know that yet.”
City Sales Tax Revnues , according to WPCNR calculations rose 2.3%, from 2004-2005 to 2005-2006, from 40,929,781 to $41,886,267
The City’s 2006-2007 budget has projected $42.5 Million in sales tax for 06-07, relying on the injection of new Wal-Mart sales, for the increase.
Prior to the Mayor’s Revitalization Program for the city, sales tax collections stood at $35,787,758 at the end of the 2000-2001 fiscal year. After six years sales taxes have risen to the $41,886,267 level, or 17%. Sales tax receipts first increased substantially from the 2000-2001 doldrums (as a result of the redevelopment) in 2003-2004, climbing to $37.7 million.
However, prices have risen 11% from the end of 2000 to the end of 2005, according to “The Inflation Calculator.” When the sales receipts are measured against inflation, and inflation is taken into account, the real increase in sales tax receipts declines to 6%. If you were to attempt to purchase $6,098,509 of a list of goods in 2005, you bought in 2000 for $6,098,509 it would take you $6,772,626 to purchase the same items.
It appears not to be that Redevelopment of the city has not helped revitalize the city’s economy, but its benefits have not been enough to match the explosion in city spending.
In 2001-2002, the city budget was $97.8 Million. According to the published 2006-2007 budget, the city will spend $146.3 Million in 2006-2007, or $48.5 Million more than it spent in 2001-2002.
The city budget has increased 49.6% in five years (2001-2002 to 2006-2007) against a cumulative inflation rate from 2002 through 2005 of 9.92% and an inflation rate since 2000 of 2.6%, a cumulative rate of 15.6%. The city has spent at more than three times the inflation rate.
The annual rates of inflation for 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 were 3.38%, 2.38%, 1.59%, 2.27%, 2.68% and 3.39% -- an average of 2.6% each of those six years a cumulative rise in prices of 15.7% The current rate of inflation for 2006 is 3.74%.
Viewed another away, redevelopment of White Plains has kept pace with the inflation of little more than 6% a year the last five years while city fiscal management has spent at a rate eight times the average rate of inflation.
