Resaca City Council members voted on the 2011-2012 budget during their June meeting. Although the numbers balanced between expenses and revenues, the city used some of their reserve fund to balance it out, prompting questions from the council.

Expenditures for the town came to $434,530 and revenues came to the same amount, with the additions of $36,900 in 2011 surplus funds. This was $5,365 less than the 2010-2011 budget of $439,895.

“You’re supposed to have a balanced budget,” said Councilman Jim Brown. “It’s wrong.”

“It’s a legal budget,” town attorney Peter Olson told the board. “But you can’t balance with surplus forever.”

Mayor Sam Allen said the projected revenues were based on the 2010-2011 budget and some of the projected expenditures increased.

“We spent more on maintenance than we anticipated last year, so I included the new figures in this budget,” he said.

For the fiscal year 2011-2012, the town allotted $43,250 for janitorial and maintenance work, up $13,250 from last year’s $30,000. However, the town reduced projected spending in property payment and capital improvement, down to $62,500, about $27,500 less than the town spent in 2010-2011, which was projected at $90,000.

Also, some revenues projections were not realistic, he said. “We used to have projected revenues from beverage tax at $45,000. We’ve never made that in beverage tax. I used the number that we actually brought in last year.”

Revenue from beverage taxes during fiscal year 2010-2011 was $28,900, which is also the projected revenue in the 2011-2012 budget.

In other Resaca news:

The city has begun preliminary talks with the City of Calhoun and with the owners of Flying J to determine the best way to get into the sewer business. It will be a slow, expensive process, said Allen and one that has come up several times in the last decade. Allen said because of the cost involved, it will have to be done in phases.

“We need to get started,” he said.

The city has about $400,000 in SPLOST (Special Local Option Sale Tax) money allocated to it.

“The good news is, Flying J wants out of the sewer business,” said Dan Peoples with the consulting firm helping the town navigate the venture.

Flying J currently owns a pump station, force main and lines for its truck stop, but the pump station is old and has problems said Councilman Jim Brown who is representing the council during the process. Resaca is hoping to purchase the pump station and the existing lines to tie into Calhoun’s sewer system.

Allen said he has spoken to officials with the City of Calhoun.

“They said they will maintain it if it’s built to their specs,” he said.

The next step, he said, is to continue talks with Flying J and the City of Calhoun.