Without additional spending during the next three months, the Town of Haymarket entered Monday night on course to exit the fiscal year with a surplus of about $250,000, according to two financial officials.

Council member Jay Tobias and town treasurer James Naradzay reported that figure during the regularly scheduled monthly town hall meeting April 4. Though earlier projections two months ago showed that the town could end Fiscal Year 2011 with up to $308,000 in unspent money from the yearly budget, the $250,000 figure seemed to be more realistic in the final months before the new budget year begins in July.

During an interview, Naradzay pored over a document showing the money the council and town staff expected to come into town coffers and how much they expected to spend when the council approved of the current budget last year.

He explained that the town saved over $40,000 by not hiring a fifth police officer during the last year despite having the money allocated to do so in the budget. In addition to that, revenue coming back into the town's coffers from the 4 percent meals tax levied on food prepared within the town once again exceeded projections.

The 2011 budget put expected revenue from the meals tax at $360,000. As of the end of March, the meals tax already generated $321,617 with $30,000 to $33,000 more expected to come in per month for April, May and June.

If those numbers hold, then the meals tax could bring in between an extra $51,000 to $61,000 than initially projected by the time Fiscal Year 2012 begins in July.

Revenue from other taxes, including those for the cigarettes, business, personal property and gross receipts, appears to be greater than budgeted too, thanks in part to the new CVS pharmacy that opened at the corner of U.S. 15 and Washington Street (Route 55) on the site of the former Quarles property.

According to Naradzay, the town did not necessarily craft its current budget intentionally guessing revenue would come in on the lowest possible end like other years. Instead, projections from the meals tax, for instance, had been raised over the prior year.

"We made an attempt to try to be more aggressive with revenues," he said.

More money than budgeted has also already come in from rental agreements. While $125,000 had been set aside for the entire fiscal year, the town has already collected about $127,000 with another three months to go.

So, instead of about $10,417 coming in per month, the town is actually receiving on average about $14,111 each month from tenants. A big boost came from the $6,000 per month Attiva Corporation is paying for rent on the town center property, Naradzay said.

The $250,000 figure is subject to change depending on any extra spending the town council does in the fourth quarter. Some talks prior to Monday night's meeting centered around adding a trail to the Harrover property on the east end of town. Other options could include restoring dilapidated historic buildings from around Haymarket, though the town has been slow over the years to make any final decisions about either restoring or demolishing those properties.

The way the town operates its finances is different from some other jurisdictions as the budget approval process is actually different from the appropriations process.

Essentially, the town council votes on the grand figure that is the total budget, usually in June. Once a quarter afterward, the council then approves of some specific aspects of spending the money that was either budgeted or not budgeted.

Tobias motioned on Monday that spending for the fourth quarter of the current fiscal year should be about $299,000 and the council agreed. Capital improvements, such as the Street Scape, and operational expenses, like paying the town employees, make up over $200,000 of that spending alone.

That comes at a time when the council is getting ready to approve its next operating and capital budgets, which total $2.62 million. Given the lack of dissent over spending and taxing items so far, Tobias called for an end to budget work sessions and to move on with the budgetary process, which won approval of Mayor Pam Stutz.

"Sounds like a great idea," she said.