Fredericksburg can't point to Central Park anymore as the answer to all of its financial woes.
City sales-tax numbers tell the story of how the proliferation of competing retail developments in the counties has quelled the rapid revenue growth that the retail complex once meant for the city.
According to figures that City Council members saw at a Friday budget retreat, city sales-tax receipts grew from just under $10 million in fiscal 2003 to $12.9 million in 2006.
In 2007, they dropped to $12.2 million, in part because Fredericksburg had to return $400,000 in sales tax that was mistakenly paid by Spotsylvania businesses.
"Our position is eroding with the opening of other regional stores," City Manager Philip Rodenberg told council members Friday. "It points out how important Celebrate Virginia is going to be to keeping us stable as an independent city."
As the sales-tax growth has trailed off, city expenses have grown, due primarily to a rise in health care and benefits costs, the city's share of school costs and debt service to pay for things like the new James Monroe High School.
As a result, the city has spent more money than it has brought in for the past two fiscal years.
Until projects like the Wegmans grocery and Celebrate Virginia--timelines for which are hard to pin down in today's economy--start operating, Fredericksburg budget officials don't see that trend reversing.
In the meantime, the city is using its general fund reserve--which grew in the years when Central Park
This does not produce a lot of smiles when City Council members consider how to pay for a number of large capital projects.
Among them:
A new courts complex. The cheapest immediate option to meet current needs would cost about $33 million, which would require a 6-cent real-estate tax hike to finance, but building a complex that would meet longer-term needs could cost around $60 million.
Water- and sewer-system improvements. Council will hold a public hearing Tuesday on issuing bonds
A riverfront park. Building and buying land for the first phase of that project is expected to cost up to $7.1 million. The bond issue that will be heard Tuesday includes $2.5 million of that expenditure.
Council members talked Friday about how the courts and utilities projects aren't optional. Judges have pressured, and could order the city to build the courts, and environmental regulatory agencies will order them to improve the utilities if the city doesn't.
One of the questions council members wrestled with was how long this period of budget shortfalls would continue, and what it should mean for projects like the riverfront park, which aren't required, but which could help Fredericksburg compete with other small downtown communities that are drawing weekend visitors with money to spend.
"I view the riverfront park not so much as an expense as an investment," Councilman George Solley said.
"Couples from D.C., are not going to come down to spend three-day weekends here because we have a hotel and a parking garage," Mayor Tom Tomzak said. "We have to become a destination, and this is essential for that."
While he doesn't dispute that, Councilman Marvin Dixon is nervous about overcommitting the city's resources.
"It's very easy for all of us to get behind a riverfront park," he said. "But where is the money coming from? Who are we taxing, and what revenue stream have we identified to pay for this?"
Councilwoman Debby Girvan wants the city to spend more time looking at alternative money sources, like corporate partnerships or grants.
However, Vice Mayor Kerry Devine said the park has been on Fredericksburg's priority list for decades, and in order to get grant money, the city needs to first spend some of its own to show it's committed to the project.
Council members first vowed to get serious about the riverfront-park concept at a retreat about a year ago, when they pledged to close the parking lot at the end of Charlotte Street before last St. Patrick's Day.
Since then, a task force has developed a plan for the park.
However, the city still has to convince two property owners to sell their land if it wants to move forward with the park.
Public discussion of the park is likely to continue on Tuesday night, when the council will take a final vote on whether to buy one piece of riverfront land from Tommy Mitchell.
The rest of the budget concerns will crop up as council members talk about everything from subsidizing the Expo Center to crafting next year's spending plan.
Emily Battle: 540/374-5413