Mt. Vernon Register-News

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January 26, 2010

RLCD over budget projections

By TESA CULLI

tesa.culli@register-news.com

BENTON — The Rend Lake Conservancy District is $33,000 better than anticipated by its budget, and expects to end the fiscal year in April with about $83,000 more than anticipated.

“We’re in good financial condition, especially in this economy,” RLCD General Manager Keith Thomason reported Monday. RLCD Controller Wayne Tate said even on the recreation side of the district, golf is the only budget line item which is not above budget projections, and that item is within $4,000 during the off-season.

“We’ll be in good shape in April when we finish the fiscal year,” Tate predicted.

According to financial information presented during the January meeting of the RLCD Board, in the general fund, the receipts are $33,301 above budget projections; the intercity water fund, without grant receipts, is at $110,874 above projections; the recreation fund — which includes the golf course, lodge and condo and recreation central leasing — is at $83,221; and the sewage treatment fund is at $27,214 above budget projections.

According to Thomason, work is starting on the new budget, with department heads working on individual line items, and a first draft of the 2010-11 budget will be presented to the board in March.

The fiscal year for RLCD is from May 1 through April 30.

The board also received an update on spending for the water plant expansion, and the Marion water line. The district has spent $19.7 million of its $24 million budget for the plant expansion, with $4.1 million of the monies spent so far coming from a 2-percent loan from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency. The water plant expansion is slated to be completed in August, however, due to changes and problems with the membrane filtration system, that date may have to be moved by a “couple months.

The city of Marion is paying for the water line project which will allow RLCD to provide water to that city, and has spent $1.6 million toward that project, which is expected to be completed by July. According to Thomason, the district will be able to begin supplying water to Marion in July, but under terms of its contract, Marion will not be able to shut down its water plant until the RLCD water plant expansion is completed.

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