Council approves budget

“This is probably the least lean budget we’ve put together in the last five years,” Green River Finance Director Chris Meats said Tuesday.

The Green River City Council approved its operating budget for the 2022-2023 fiscal year, which starts July 1. The budget totals $17 million and utilizes $3.7 million in reserve funds to balance it off of $14.9 million in revenue. Meats said the budget is larger than previous years, but still represents a conservative revenue forecast of $850,000 a month. Additionally, the city will receive $1.2 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding expected to be given to the city soon. He said sales tax figures have increased from previous years and match what the city was receiving in 2014, however there are potential situations in the future that may result in changes to sales tax amounts the city will receive.

Meats said there is concern a recession may start in the coming months, which would likely result in people spending less money, impacting the amount of sales tax the city receives. Meats also said the sixth-penny special purpose tax, if passed in November, would change what the city will receive as well.

Meats said the city has a $325,000 remaining fund balance in the documented budget, but believes the figure will increase to approximately $500,000 as a result of changes made to the Sweetwater County Joint Communications Center funding percentages and other funding adjustments.

“The city’s sitting in the best place we’ve been sitting in the last five years, especially since 2014,” Meats said.

Meats said one of the goals the city has had over the past few years is to adjust operations cost to meet sales tax revenues. He said the city is between $2 million and $3 million below its averages over the past 10 years, with the city making cost cuts while eyeing revenue growth to attempt to make costs and revenues match. However, this is a difficult proposition and Meats said employees should receive increased compensation, otherwise they will leave. At the same time, Meats said the city isn’t in the position to give massive pay increases.

“We’d love to do what Casper did and give what, 9% is what I believe Casper gave,” Meats said. “We’d love to throw that number out, but it’s not financially in our best interests.”

City residents can expect some small rate increases over the coming year. According to the rate schedule adopted by the Council, monthly residential and commercial sewer base rates will increase from $18.80 to $20.05. Minimum water usage rates are also set to increase. Meats said water and sewer prices are in the same rate study the city utilizes to set prices and have typically accounted for a 3-4% increase due to inflation. However, Meats said the Joint Powers Water Board, which supplies the city with water, has issued rate increases beyond that threshold in the last three years. The city’s sewer and water services operate as an enterprise fund, which allows the city to only charge the amounts needed to keep services operational, but not earn a profit from those services.