Both revenues and expenditures are expected to increase for the city of Cumming in 2022.

During the Cumming City Council’s work session on Wednesday, Nov. 3, council members heard a presentation from City Administrator Phil Higgins about the city’s proposed 2022 budget.

Higgins said the preliminary 2022 budget is balanced at about $42.4 million, which is greater than the 2021 adopted budget of $38.9 million. 

The city budget is the total of the proposed general fund ($15.5 million), water and sewer ($25.8 million) and capital projects fund ($1.1 million) budgets.

For the general fund, the largest expected revenues are about $8.7 million in administration fees, $1.6 million from the aquatic center, $1.5 million from the Cumming Fairgrounds, $1.1 million from the municipal court and $1.1 million from planning and zoning.

For revenues, one of the largest increases will come from the city’s municipal court, which had expected revenue of $450,000 in the 2021 budget.

The fund’s largest planned expenditures are $3,009,550 for the police department, almost $2 million in street work, $1.9 million for parks and recreation and $1.8 million for the fairgrounds. There is also a contingency of $1.2 million.

One of the biggest changes in expenditures for next year is for capital improvements, which was adopted at $19,065 in 2022.

For the water and sewer fund, the largest revenues are $12,000,000 for water sales, $8.3 million for sewer charges, $3.8 million for sewer plant reserves.

The largest planned expenditures for that fund are $8.8 million for capital improvements, $7.7 million for distribution, $4.7 million for production and $4.4 million for waste water.

Council members did not take any action on the budget, and the item will return for a public hearing on Tuesday, Nov. 16.