By Tom Weber, KWMU
St. Louis, MO – New numbers from St. Louis City Hall show the city ended the last fiscal year with a $3 million surplus.
Most of the extra money is the result of departments not spending all the funds they were budgeted, as opposed to the city bringing in more tax money than predicted.
In fact, budget director Paul Payne says the city was just about on target in predicting tax revenues.
"In the overall scheme if you look at $3 million, it's slightly less than 1% of the total budget," Payne said. "So, it's a good thing but it's a modest end to the fiscal year but it's obviously you like to see it end on the positive side of the ledger."
Payne says city law requires half of the surplus to be used on capital projects, like road construction or building. The other half will go into the city's general fund.