Mayor George Flaggs Jr. is sounding the warning about the city’s tight financial situation early. Given the challenges facing it as the new fiscal year goes on he’s on target.

The mayor opened his budget discussion very directly, telling Aldermen Michael Mayfield and Willis Thompson, “I want to really drill it home on how tough this year’s going to be as relates to budgeting. There’s a number of factors going on, and I hope that we can stick to the budget and not create any new programs, because the budget is tight.”

Flaggs discussed the firefighter overtime problem, and he is correct that if it continues at the pace it ran last fiscal year at more than $813,000 it will seriously affect the budget. But there are other items that loom large as the city goes through the year, and some involve costs will have to be addressed as the board moves forward.

One is the $2.7 million in one-time money that’s included in the budget. That money is earmarked for special projects, and once spent will not be available again. That is, they won’t be available to shore up the fiscal 2017 budget.

Sales and property tax revenues are not coming in as well as city officials thought. The city’s revenue stream includes a number of sources, and including fees and franchise taxes, but sales and property taxes form the bulk of its revenue. Sales tax revenues, Flaggs said, are coming in at $200,000, $300,000 a month over the previous year, making it difficult for the board to add new programs.

Items not included in the budget include a $145,000 consulting fee for JCI Holdings for the Champion Hill site at Fisher Ferry for a sports complex; $50,000 for the special 2016 referendum for the 2 percent food and beverage and hotel tax to fund the sports complex; money for potential payments for a $600,000 CAP loan to raze Kuhn Hospital; and money for a $2.8 to $2.9 million lease purchase or loan for a new radio system.

Faced with the prospect of limited revenue and these potential unbudgeted extra costs, Flaggs is wise to remind the board it needs to exercise caution when it starts looking a how it spends the city’s money.

When the budget was assembled in August and early September the mayor told the board then the present fiscal year would be tough. In fact, the first draft of the budget showed a deficit of more than $50,000. It took more cuts and re-evaluating priorities to get it  to a manageable figure.

The warning has been given and given early enough. Let’s hope the board keeps that warning in mind through the rest of the year.