Yesterday West Lake Hills city staff informed City Council about a miscalculation in its draft budget for fiscal year 2016-17, which took the city's estimated general fund balance down to $5,000, which is $435,000 less than planned. As a result, council did not present a proposed budget as planned at the meeting and instead agreed to have another work session Sept. 6 at 6 p.m. to draft a budget based on the newly discovered financial information. “This afternoon I was informed that there is a discrepancy in what I thought the balance was in the tree fund,” West Lake Hills Mayor Linda Anthony said. “That led to discoveries of some other things. The long and short of it is—the money that we thought we had left for additional spending is tied up in other commitments.” When budget data was first presented to the council at the start of the budgeting process July 20, Financial Officer Wendy Bates said the $435,000 was included in the city's general fund account. However, at the Aug. 24 City Council meeting, Bates, along with Anthony and City Administrator Robert Wood, said the money had already been obligated to three accounts—the court fund, the police department fund and the tree fund. Therefore, the money that appeared to be unrestricted and available—$435,000—was actually restricted. It could not be placed back into the general fund, making the general fund balance a lot lower than council members expected, staff said. “The money that is present to the city is no different than what we talked about,” Wood said. “But, the court fund, PD fund and the tree fund had not been netted out to get to the unrestricted number. Once you do that, those add up. Again, the money’s there, but it’s already been spoken for.” There are still numerous outstanding spending requests from city staff, Anthony said. To make progress, the council would have to take back what they’ve already approved, she said. “It’s not a pretty picture," Anthony said of the budget miscalculation issue. The council received a list of priorities for the FY 2016-17 budget in July and were basing their budget decisions on those requests, Bates said. The list of possible city funding priorities as of Aug. 1 included street improvements on Camp Craft Road ($540,000); new police vehicles ($80,000); city hall remodeling ($50,000); and drainage improvements ($40,000). “We made this budget thinking we’re going to have more money to play with—now that’s not the case,” Council Member Jim O’Connor said. “Is there anything that’s just burning on the priority list that we still haven’t been able to accommodate, and is there any fat in our current budget that we can squeeze something out of?” The Sept. 6 West Lake Hills City Council meeting is open to the public.