Budget Questions

I was reading Chris Schnurr's blog last night and came across a report he linked to, completed for London City Council (BMA Management Consulting’s 2006 tax comparison, courtesy of the City of London).

One of the tables listed the percentage of reserves versus total expenditures (2005 figures):

Windsor: Reserves $74,145,712 Total Expenditures $709,476,190

What's got me puzzled is the figures for London:

London: Reserves $194,539,419 Total Expenditures $743,417,186

The next table is similar, but less Unfunded Liabilities and less Water and Sewer:

Windsor: Reserves $71,469,164 Total Expenditures $645,453,762

London: Reserves $120,655,162 Total Expenditures $656,322,951

Windsor's population is 216,000 while London clocks in at 352,000. Why are Windsor's figures so close to London? I'm currently reviewing the 2007 budgets for both cities to try and determine where the differences are. If anyone knows any reasons why Windsor's budget is almost the same as London's, please email me or post a comment.

One other thing I noted from the BMA report is the status of our reserves. Windsor, at 10.1% is below both the median (29.7%) and average (42.9%) of the 76 municipalities studied for the report.