To prepare, Mayor David Uran told the City Council that over the next two years, “we’re battening down the hatches and we’re looking at revenues and being wise with our dollars.”
“This is not a one-year budget, this is a two-year budget. This is part of that process,” Uran said.
Gregory Guerrettaz, president of Financial Solutions Group Inc., told the council that he and his team worked with department heads and the Clerk-Treasurer’s Office to review revenues and decreasing expenses.
“It’s not on any one funds. It is hitting each fund across the board. You can see impacts on the parks department. You can see impacts on income taxes coming in 2022. You can see impacts even in the garbage collection fee fund,” Guerrettaz said.
The general fund for 2021 is estimated at $12,969,924, according to the 2021 budget ordinance. The general fund has decreased in the last two years, Guerrettaz said.
The parks department fund needs to be reviewed because the department is projecting a $1,973,107 budget while in 2020 the department budget was about $1,965,000, Guerrettaz said.
The overall 2021 budget is listed at $39,575,051, according to the budget ordinance. The 2021 budget appears larger than 2020, Uran said, but it isn’t because bonds were removed from the budget.
“We’re not increasing the budget by X amount of dollars, we’re just basically having to fund those payments through another source, which is through another account,” Uran said.
The city’s assessed valuation has grown by 6.65%, compared to the state’s 4.25% assessed valuation, Guerrettaz said. The city can take the additional funds to purchase things like public safety equipment, he said.
Under state law, the additional assessed valuation funds can’t go toward employee raises, he said. But, Uran said the funds could be used to “purchase things that are on our 5- to 10-year capital improvement list,” like an ambulance.
The council gave initial approval of an ordinance regarding salaries for elected officials for 2021, which will be maintained at the same pay rate established for 2020, Uran said.
The council also gave initial approval to an ordinance to maintain salaries for employees. But, because in 2020 there are 27 paydays instead of the typical 26 paydays – based on one extra day worked – employees will receive an extra paycheck days before the new year begins, Uran said.
To fill “that gap” in the additional paycheck before the 2021 budget begins, money will be appropriated, Uran said. But, given the uncertainty around the COVID-19 pandemic, employees likely won’t receive raises in 2021, he said.
“This is the only way to be fair and equitable while being good stewards of the community,” Uran said.
A public hearing will be held Oct. 5, and the budget will be voted on 10 days later, Uran said.
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