By Patrick Yost
Editor

The Bostwick City Council Monday took their first look at the proposed 2009 fiscal year budgets. Based on projected property tax collections, Bostwick Mayor John Bostwick said the city would keep it’s millage rate at 0.97 mills. The rate is expected to collect $10,007 from city property owners, the same as 2008.
“Our millage rate has been 0.97 since we’ve been here. I recommend we leave it the same.”
Projected revenues for the city’s general fund for the year are $87,582, a significant drop from 2008’s $177,557. The reduction comes, in part, from the completion of a $96,000 grant the city received in 2008. The city also expects to collect $11,000 from its alcoholic beverage excise tax, $27,200 from both the Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) and Special Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) and $16,000 from its insurance premium.
On the general fund expense side, the city expects to spend $48,459, which would result in a net positive balance for the city of $39,123.
In the city’s water fund, the city is projecting revenues of $67,200 for 2009 and expenses of $65,400 for a  net profit of $1,750. In 2008 the city is showing a net loss in the water department of $46,800.
That loss is attributed, in part, to the $40,000 purchase of a water filtration system for the city’s drinking water. Repayment of the loan for the filtration system, Bostwick said, will be reflected as a $4,700 GEFA loan repayment on the water department’s expense budget for the next 20 years.
For the city’s Susie Agnes Hotel fund, the city is projecting a net profit of $6,700 for 2009, with an expected $20,200 in revenue expected from the annual Cotton Gin Festival compared to $13,500 in expenses for the festival. Funds made from the festival are used in the on–going renovation of the hotel.