A frugal Foley City Council voted to accept a very conservative 2010-2011 fiscal year budget with very little room for unanticipated expenses.

Because of the uncertain economy, Foley’s officials opted to keep the revenue estimates low and keep spending to a bare minimum. The new fiscal year actually began on Oct. 1, but because the new budget was not passed until this week the city was still operating under the previous year’s budget.

The council held off approving a budget until after deliberations finally ended with a workable balanced budget the council was pleased with.

As a result of Foley’s tight budget, extra expenditures will be few and far between. The economic situation and the approved budget for this fiscal year were also factors in the council’s hesitation to accept a $400,000 grant to improve the police department’s patrols because in the long run, the grant could cost the city more than $150,000 a year for maintenance and upkeep.

The budget that was approved earlier this week only leaves the city with $130,108 after budgeted expenses, which does not leave the city much room to account for unexpected expenditures or pay for new allocations.

According to the new budget, the city anticipates this year’s revenue to be almost $24.1 million, which is almost $650,000 less than the collected revenue for the previous year. According to city officials, the anticipated drop in revenue is due to a drop in revenue accounts, including property taxes, licenses and permits and grants revenue. City officials also report the decreased income is expected to be somewhat offset by a 1.5 percent increase in sales tax revenue, an increase in utility tax equivalents and increased fees charged by the city to house prisoners for Summerdale and Elberta.

Despite the anticipated revenue being down, the anticipated expenditures for this year exceed the expenditures for the previous year. Last year the city spent $20.3 million, this year that amount is budgeted to increase to $20.8 million.

As part of the adopted budget, all major expenditures and any expenditure that will put a department over its budgeted amount must be approved by the council, and overtime will be limited for city employees.

City officials were hopeful the actual revenue collected by the city in the upcoming year exceeds the estimate, but the council opted to aim low for revenue instead of encountering a shortfall.

Even though the new budget is conservative, the council did allocate funds where they were needed the most, like the $120,000 allocated for the purchase of three new police cruisers needed by the police department.

“There is little doubt that challenging times will continue for an unknown period of time,” said city officials. “Therefore, the city plans to continue closely monitoring all expenditures as the year progresses.”