Balancing the budget

The City of Green River is headed into the new fiscal year with a balanced budget.

While revenues are expected to be up by about half a million dollars this year compared to last year's estimates, city expenses in restricted and designated reserves are expected to be roughly $2.8 million higher than in last year's budget. Still, the budget leaves money left over for the city, and city officials are hopeful for increased revenue in the future.

The council voted unanimously to approve the Fiscal Year 2025 budget during the June 18 meeting.

City Administrator Reed Clevenger noted that the budget deals with the city's finances as they stand now, but the city is keeping in mind potential additional revenue in the future due to planned industry projects that will help boost the area's economy.

"I believe that the budget set is conservative enough, and also tied into the excitement that we're expecting to see come this next year, having to deal with the challenges and the growth of the industry that we're hoping to come here and the good problems that we get to discuss and hope to work out," Clevenger said.

The city has been working on the budget since the beginning of the year, and the city council hosted multiple budget workshops before regular council meetings. During a workshop on June 4, City Clerk Chris Meats explained that sales tax numbers came in over what was budgeted last year. He pointed out that sales tax is a major focus because it ends up accounting for over 70% of the city's revenue. He also said that sales tax has been slowly increasing over the last few years, which is expected to continue.

The council also approved a resolution adopting the wages for elected and appointed city officials, and a resolution adopting the schedule of fees for the new fiscal year.

During the meeting, Councilmember Ron Williams asked about the need to approve the resolution for elected and appointed officials' wages since they are also included in the budget. Meats explained that state statutes require the salaries of elected and appointed officials to be established in a resolution separate from and prior to passing the budget. Williams also wanted to clarify that the increase to the appointed officials' salaries was from them receiving the same Cost of Living Adjustment that all city employees received and was not a separate raise. Appointed officials for the city include the city administrator, municipal judge, city attorney and city prosecutor.

It was also pointed out that the mayor and city council members haven't received a raise in roughly 20 years. This topic was brought up by Councilmember Gary Killpack during the June 4 budget workshop, but it was noted that the city council cannot vote to give themselves a raise, and any changes wouldn't go into effect until each council member goes through an election.

When the council considered the resolution to adopt the schedule of fees during Tuesday night's meeting, Councilmember Killpack proposed two amendments, recommending that all waived fees come to the city council for approval and that the $1 daily locker fees at the Recreation Center be included with any rec center pass, effectively removing the daily fee. Both amendments failed.

Meats pointed out that almost all waived fees do come before the council already, with only one exception where the city administrator can waive Parks and Recreation fees for nonprofit organizations up to $750, which Meats said he believes only happens "a handful of times a year." Concerning the locker fees, Parks and Recreation Director Katie Duncombe noted that the daily locker rentals end up bringing in about $5,700, which she said is "a lot of money" for the rec center.

The amendment regarding waived fees, which was proposed twice to clarify wording, failed both times with a 3-3 vote. Councilmembers Killpack, Williams, and Robert Berg voted in favor of it both times, while Councilmembers Sherry Bushman and George Jost along with Mayor Pete Rust voted against in both times. The amendment regarding locker rental fees failed after a 4-2 vote, with Councilmembers Killpack and Williams voting in favor of it and Councilmembers Bushman, Jost, and Berg, along with Mayor Rust, voting against it. Councilmember Mike Shutran wasn't present for the meeting.

Copies of budget summaries and the resolutions for officials' wages and the schedule of fees can be found on the city's website.