With less than three months remaining before Villa Rica’s fiscal year ends, making budget is a priority for city officials.

Villa Rica’s fiscal year ends on March 31, and through December the city’s general-fund revenues are about 25 percent – nearly $1.7 million – higher than anticipated by the budget. That’s largely because Carroll County sent its property tax bills out a month earlier than normal and has already collected more than $1 million for Villa Rica. The city is still about $1 million short of its total projected collections from property taxes, including the funds that will be collected in Douglas County.

General fund expenditures were $61,190 over budget through December 2009, but city officials said those expenditures will be made up with Federal Emergency Management Agency reimbursements for repairs made to flood-damaged property and equipment.

Overall, the city is more than $400,000 over budget with $6.3 million in expenditures versus nearly $5.8 million in revenues. But city officials are optimistic those numbers will become more balanced as late-year revenues are collected.

“I’m crossing my fingers,” City Manager Larry Wood said. “I promised the mayor that we would make budget.”

The two revenue line items that could stand in the city’s way for coming in at or under budget will be the total property tax collections for both Carroll and Douglas counties and the franchise fees the city receives from a variety of utilities operating in the city. The property taxes may fall short due to the economy and residents’ ability to pay on time, and most of the franchise fees will be collected in March.

The city’s SPLOST account has also suffered due to the economy. Though city officials had hoped to clear nearly $1 million at this point in the year from sales tax receipts, through the end of November they had only collected slightly less than half of their goal with only a few months left in the collection cycle. But those receipts do not include the Christmas shopping rush, which could make up some of that loss.

One bright spot in the city’s budget is that combined cash accounts — reserves — are up $500,000 to $6.9 million, despite the lagging economy and sluggish revenue collections. One reason the reserve total has increased was a decision made by the City Council last month during its second quarter budget revision to cut some jobs and not fill other vacant positions, as well as a variety of other financial cuts.

“There’s not too much more we can cut,” Wood said.