Personnel benefits across departments, along with increases in salaries, wages and withholding costs, contributed to much of the budget increase. Personnel services account for 72.6% of expenditures (just more than $10 million), with the rest of the expenditure budget going toward operating expenses.
The city is anticipating revenue of $15.48 million in 2025, up by almost 7% from this year.
The budget is divided into different funds — the General Fund and 23 other special revenue funds. The general fund is the largest fund and has a balanced budget, with total receipts equal to expenses, and any excess net income being transferred to the fund’s ending cash reserves. Based on the proposed budget, Oxford would start and end 2025 with more than $9.9 million in its reserves.
The city’s projected general fund revenue for 2024 is nearly $1 million higher than what it budgeted for at the start of the year. Expenditures are expected to come in nearly $200,000 lower than what the city budgeted for.
Within the budget’s $7 million for transfers and advances to other funds, the city plans to advance $4.8 million to the OAT fund for construction of phase 5, transfer $648,000 to the street fund and transfer $400,000 to the Fire & EMS fund.
During the 2008 recession and COVID-19 pandemic, Oxford’s revenue and income tax decreased drastically. It took three years to recover revenue lost from the 2008 financial crisis. A healthy general fund balance allows the city to handle emergencies or fund projects like the Oxford Area Trails System (OATS), without borrowing and incurring interest.
Total revenue is expected to rise 12.7% to $20.89 million in 2025, with half of that coming from income tax. The city will see a 25% increase in the money it collects from real estate taxes next year.
The proposed budget includes a nearly 15% increase in law enforcement funding due to healthcare and personnel costs. Law enforcement costs make up more than half of the city’s expenditures next year at $7.3 million.
The city joined Jefferson Health Plan in 2024 and switched to HUB International for healthcare consulting to reduce the cost for employers. Healthcare costs per employee have risen 26.7%, from $1,275 to $1,615.
Management information systems spending will increase by 57% to $255,000, largely due to contracted maintenance services that occur every couple of years. Tax collection costs are set to rise 23% to 455,000, and legal services will see a 36.3% increase to $230,000.
“Every year we’ve been coming back and asking for more money for legal expenses because we’ve been getting into all these lawsuits,” Jessica Greene, assistant city manager, said during the Oct. 17 meeting. “Instead of coming back and asking over and over ‘We need more money,’ [We] talked about just increasing the budget.”
During the meeting, city staff expressed frustration over the financial burden of ongoing lawsuits and discussed ways to inform the public about their impact on taxpayer funds.
Fire & EMS Fund
This year, Oxford voters are deciding on Issue 2, a ballot initiative which would create a Fire and EMS levy to help fund the Oxford Fire Department. If it passes, Fire & EMS fund revenues are expected to rise 94.1% to $5.3 million, which includes Miami University’s $1.27 million contribution to the city.
The fund has struggled to keep up with expenses in recent years. In 2022, the Fire & EMS Fund had a starting balance of $2.65 million, but that is expected to drop to less than $500,000 by the start of 2025.
If the levy passes, the fire department will increase its spending on personnel salaries, overtime and benefits by more than 30%. The overall fire and EMS expenditures are set to increase 24.7% to $4.5 million.
Capital Improvement Plan includes major expenses for 2025
The budget Oxford passes for 2025 will also include a capital improvement plan (CIP) for the next five years. The 2025-2029 CIP outlines $37.5 million in total improvements and equipment for 2025. The majority of the projects are projected to be funded through grants and loans.
While the 2025-2029 CIP outlines many different projects, only some are included in the Capital Improvement Fund on the budget, with the rest listed under different funds. Expenditures from the Capital Improvement Fund are set to rise 88.6% to $3.2 million.
The plan includes the $6.6 million for Phase 5 of the OATS construction. The Black Covered Bridge will also incur $450,000 for repairs. The city also secured $900,000 in grant funding to install electric vehicle charging stations.
Other CIP projects include $19.2 million in water improvement, including a new water treatment plant. The Ohio Water Development Authority (OWDA) loan will cover 98% of the cost, with the remainder coming from the water fund.
This article was originally published in the Oxford Free Press, a content partner of the Journal-News. See it online at oxfreepress.com.
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