It may not have been by much, nevertheless the city of Portsmouth’s final numbers from 2015 were up with only one city fund still in the red.

Income tax collections were down for December, compared to December 2014, but not by as much as City Auditor Trent Williams had anticipated.

In September, Williams said it looked as if the collections could be down by as much as $200,000. They were down $38,927 and ended the year up $112,983 above last year in the General Fund.

Total tax collections were down $45,904, but $131,797 over last year. Both sets of numbers were better than forecast in September – “They were a little more skeptical at that time,” Williams said.

“We actually ended up with $10,280,299 which is $131,797 over last year for an increase of 1.3 percent,” Williams said. “Only three years since the inception of the city’s income tax has it not been higher in the year than it’s previous year.”

Those years were 2006, 2009 and 2014 since the 60s when the income tax began.

All city funds ended up in the positive except for the Sewer Fund, which showed a deficit of $965,198.

“The only bright spot there is that it wasn’t over a million dollars in the hole,” Williams said.

Williams said the General Fund ended at $445,626 in the black. The Streets Fund ended at $0, Water Fund 604 at $211,583, The Sanitation Fund ended at $545,151, and the Insurance Fund, after the final payment of the year, at $527,505.