City Coffers (Cont'd) January 7, 2007 works maintenance building in the general fund budget, said West Haven Treasurer Steven Davis. "That's what really kind of increases the per capita spending," he said. Those type of one-time expenses skew a per-capita ranking, he said. Snowville, on the other hand, had the largest decline in per capita spending, a 56 percent drop due to about $200,000 in grant-funded expenditures for a new fire truck and ambulance in fiscal 2006, which inflated that year's budget. The general fund budget dropped from $409,600 in fiscal 2006 to $175,400 in fiscal 2007. Ups and downs Top 10 per capita spending increases from fiscal 2006 to fiscal 2007 dollar increase % increase 1. Clinton $447 99 % 2. Syracuse $197 77% 3. Deweyville $81 59 % 4. West Haven $300 53 % 5. Mantua $283 43 % 6. Fielding $81 36 % 7. Kaysville $90 25 % 8. Sunset $82 22 % 9. Corinne $100 22% 10. Portage $59 22% Top 10 municipalities with largest spending declines, per capita from fiscal 2006 to fiscal 2007 dollar decline % decline 1. Snowville -$1,350 -57% 2. Willard -$91 -20 % 3. Elwood -$67 -19% 4. West Point -$56 -19% 5. Huntsville -$88 -13% 6. Farr West -$42 -10% 7. Clearfield -$34 -6 % 8. Marriott-Slaterville-$38 -6% 9. Pleasant View -$18 -4% 10. Riverdale -$27 -3% Per capita spending Select Salt Lake County cities, fiscal 2007 Salt Lake City, $1,052 Murray, $804 West Valley City, $540 West Jordan, $493 Sandy, $483 Taylorsville, $304 Source: Standard-Examiner research, based on general fund budget expenditures and U.S. Census Bureau popula-tion estimates The study The Standard-Examiner conducted a study to rank Top of Utah cities and towns by per capita spending. The study also ranked changes in per capita spending from fiscal 2006 to fiscal 2007. The newspaper reviewed 100 annual general fund budgets for fiscal 2006 and fiscal 2007 as adopted for July 1 by cities and towns in Davis, Weber, Box Elder and Morgan counties. The study analyzed Logan's budget and looked at budgets of six cities in Salt Lake County. Those six are not in the Top of Utah ranking, but are listed for comparison. General fund budget amounts were divided by U.S. Census Bureau municipal population estimates to tabulate per capita spending. The study used only general fund budgets as prescribed by the Utah State Auditor's Office excluding capital-improvement, enterprise, or other extraneous funds to keep the ranking as equal as possible. General fund budgets typically fund annual operation and maintenance of basic services, whereas capital-im-provement, enterprise and other funds contain expenses that may vary greatly from year to year, or whose revenue is provided solely by users of those services. However, different municipalities may include different spending sectors within their general fund budgets. D.B. Troester Experts' view Experts vary on whether comparing per capita spending, based on municipal general fund budgets in the Top of Utah, is a viable measure. MacRay Curtis, director of the Local Government Division in the State Auditor's Office expressed skepticism about the Standard-Examiner study. It's difficult to adequately compare municipal general fund budgets, he said. "Different cities provide different services," he said. "For example, some might provide water or sewer services out of their general fund and some might do it out of an enterprise fund." Yet, Robert Spendlove, chief economist to Gov. Jon Huntsman, said per capita research can be a very effective measurement. "The benefit of per capita analysis is it gives a measure of the amount of spending per person," he said. "It shows the ability of a government entity to provide services for its residents." He acknowledged the study does not take into account the sources of revenue on which per capita spending was calculated. Many municipalities receive funding from the state and other sources, he said. The money doesn't necessarily all come from local residents, he said. Overall, however, the study should be a sound evaluation of municipal spending efficiency, he said. "I think it sounds like a fair measure." D.B. Troester 23