City preps for budget hearings

City department heads and council representatives will start working on the new budget at the end of the month and already face a few challenges.

The Green River City Council approved the placement of Gary Killpack and Lisa Maes on the city’s budget committee Tuesday night. For Killpack, his placement is a chance to be both a liaison to the rest of the city council, as well as have a small part in crafting the budget. Killpack served on the committee last year and hopes they will have enough funding to cover the important needs, as well as a few line items the city wants. Killpack recognizes that might be a challenge however, as he said the city is currently $230,000 behind where is should be with its revenue streams.

Chris Meats, the city’s finance director, said the decline in revenue is bottoming out according to the most recent report from the Consensus Revenue Estimating Group. Meats said the revenue decline will impact the upcoming budget, but shouldn’t result in drastic budgetary decreases like what was seen in previous years. Meats also said some jobs in the oil and gas industry have returned to Wyoming, which can be seen as a promising sign for the economy.

One of the things Meats has his eyes on is a number of funding bills under review in Cheyenne. Meats said a number of bills, such as the online sales tax bill, would have an impact on the city’s funding streams.

“They can have a significant impact on the city, one way or another,” Meats said.

Regardless, he believes the state will continue to see some ups and downs during the next few years, but said the city will aim to continue providing great service to its residents.

“We want to provide our citizens with great service as we move forward,” Meats said.