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Seneca Mayor Dan Alexander and Mayor Pro Tem Ronnie O’Kelley stand in front of a toy-collecting table in Seneca City Hall for Marvin’s Kids, a program to benefit underprivileged Oconee County elementary school youth. Marvin’s Kids is one of the local holiday programs not performing as hoped. Call City Hall at 864-885-2700 for more information. - Photo taken by Jon Robertson/Staff

SENECA — One of the most important statistics in this year’s budget for the city of Seneca is what isn’t there, Mayor Dan Alexander said.

“We’ve always tried to do what the public expects us to do,” he said. “They don’t want any more increases than there have to be. They want us to keep our budget as tight as we can, and that is what we try to do.”

In all, $622,659 in requests was not funded by this fiscal year’s budget, ranging from items requested for the street department to the police department. The total general budget did increase from $8.6 million to $9.3 million, but that figure is misleading, Alexander said.

The increase in the next fiscal year’s budget is constituted mostly of hold over capital expenses from last year’s budget, such as projects preparing for the 2009 Big League World Series, for which the funds were already placed in a special reserve account.

Other sources of increased spending were from a focus on public safety, Alexander said.

“Basically our budgeting process starts around March, and we start getting all of our information from all the departments about what they need,” Alexander said. “The departments tried not to ask for a whole lot more than what they just absolutely had to have. We had to prioritize for what we need right now. And I did place a lot of emphasis on the police and fire.”

The skyrocketing price of oil directly affected an operational cost increase, as the police department’s budget for gas and oil jumped from $49,000 to $75,000 in one year. While the fire department’s fuel budget increased by only $500 this year, it has nearly tripled since 2004. The street department also saw increases in projected spending on fuel, budgeting for $5,000 more than last fiscal year.

Many departments saw little change in overall operational costs in the budgeting process, as the recreation department’s budget grew from $1,027,981 to $1,114,000, while the street department adjusted its operational budget to require no new operational funding at all, instead requesting $45,000 in capital expenses increases for a skid steer machine.

Capital expenses and some new operational requests played a major role in the total budget, Alexander said.

The police department will hire two new master police officers, purchase a new sports utility vehicle for its narcotics division and provide more equipment and training for more personnel. The recreation department requested a single capital expense for a Ford F-150 truck. The fire department requested several capital expenses, mostly new firefighting equipment such as hose nozzles, breathing apparatuses, radio intercom systems and supply hose.

In total, new expenses came to $441,507. Alexander said a glance at the items that were requested but not funded provides a clear picture into the fiscal restraint used in the budgeting process.

“Because the economy is as slow as it is, we didn’t get anything that we didn’t have to have,” Alexander said. “Some departments made us aware that if they didn’t get what they requested this year, they’d have to get it next year.”

Major budgeting items that were put on the backburner included capital expenses up to $175,000, $220,000 and $327,930 for items such as a street sweeper, a garbage truck and take-home vehicles for police officers. The police department, while receiving funding for many new expenses, was also told it would have to wait for many of its requests. Instead of four new officers, they were granted two. They were also told requests such as police bicycle packages, additional non-lethal intermediate weapons and other vehicle requests would have to wait. The light and water budget was actually reduced more than $400,000.

Alexander said it was important to be frugal with the taxpayers’ money, and that this belief was shared by all in the city.

“I think our department heads’ minds are set that way already,” he said. “They are already thinking ‘I’m not going to ask for something I don’t have to have.’ I have lots of faith in our department heads. Each and every one of them shows restraint in the budgeting process. They put the public at the forefront, and the way the national and local economy is, we want to minimize spending as much as possible.”

The attempts to control spending come at a time when rising costs will cost the taxpayers of Seneca thousands of dollars. Residents will have to dig deeper into their pockets due to a 2.3 mill property tax increase, a $10 recreation fee increase and sewer and water fee increases.