Monday night's Clinton City Council meeting was the final time for at least four year that Jerry Milton and Mayor Carolyn Peters will serve. Their final votes cast were of great importance because the Fiscal Year 2016 budget was approved Monday.

Clinton City Treasurer Clint Lichtenwalter says the biggest unknown heading into the next fiscal year is the cuts being proposed yet still undetermined by Gov. Bruce Rauner. Lichtenwalter says because those cuts are unknown at this point, they are not included in the fiscal year budget.

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Lichtenwalter explains not factoring in the cuts by Gov. Rauner, the current budget proposal indicates a higher cash balance at the end of the year. He adds it would end up better than the current fiscal year.

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The city's expenses are in good shape. Lichtenwalter notes, factoring in inflation, the city is keeping it's expenses down while inflation continues to rise.

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Revenues in the city have not fared as well as expenses. Lichtenwalter says the trends points to people buying less because despite new revenues, revenues are only increasing minimally.

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As a consequence of the lack of growth in city revenues, Lichtenwalter points out, their reserves are in adaquate shape but not nearly as good as they had hoped, especially, with cuts on the horizon to city funds from the state of Illinois.

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The self-insurance fund has some good news to it. Lichtenwalter says in years past that fund has dwindled, however, thanks to dedication major changes, there were gains made to the plan. He calls the fund "extremely healthy" through the first 11 months of the fiscal year.

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As a part of the state's current fiscal year budget, Lichtenwalter notes the motor fuel tax for this month's motor fuel tax was cut in half to balance the state's fiscal year budget. He notes it should just be a one time cut.

As a part of the approval process for the City's Fiscal Year '16 budget, the Dr. John Warner Hospital Budget was approved. Some last minute changes were made to that and we'll have the details Tuesday on Regional Radio News.