La Crosse departments being over and under budget being looked at by council

Some city departments in La Crosse spent more than their planned budgets last year, while others had some money to spare.

The city council is working on ways to get those department budgets balanced.

Last Thursday, the council’s Finance and Personnel Committee approved plans to carry over money from departments that had a surplus, and use money from the general fund balance to even out other budgets.

The fire, engineering and park departments all had cost overruns.

Park, Recreation and Forestry director Jay Odegaard, who is also in charge of the La Crosse Center, told the committee that his department does make an effort to balance out the spending with the revenue they take in from different activities.

“Our expenses come with the revenue,” Odegaard told the committee, “so we work very hard to balance how that expense relates to everything from swim lessons to shelter reservations, fishing tournaments, so long and so forth.”

Proposed budget adjustments will be reviewed by the full city council next week.