June 17, 2024 |
Photo – Rawlins City Hall – Bigfoot99 file photo
The Rawlins city council approved the upcoming fiscal year budget. During a special meeting held Thursday, the Rawlins city decided the 2024-25 fiscal year budget on its third reading. The budget provides the city with $15.1 million dollars in operating funds for the upcoming year.
During the meeting, City Manager Tom Sarvey detailed changes that occurred between the second and third reading of the budget. Sarvey said at the June 4th council meeting, council approved a five percent wage increase for all city employees. The city manager said he added an extra $300,000 of anticipated sales tax money into the budget to cover the pay raises.
City Manager Sarvey said he set an eight-mil property tax levy, which Sarvey said, is estimated to bring in $575,000 over the upcoming fiscal year.
Last month, the city council approved an 80% increase to all water meter rates. Sarvey said the city’s water enterprise fund has been balanced using the projected revenue from the rate increase.
Sarvey said the sewer fund is the same way. After the 59% sewer rate increase, Sarvey said the enterprise fund is breaking even. The city manager said the landfill enterprise fund generated $299,000 dollars. Sarvey said he now wants to replace an aging front-end loader at the city dump.
Councilman Chris Weisenburg asked if Sarvey planned to lease or purchase the loader. Sarvey said he wants to lease the machine for now. The city manager said he’ll see if the landfill fund can cover the price to buy a front-end loader in the future.
Councilman Darril Garner asked if the city could afford to replace the doors at the solid waste station. Councilman Garner said shutting off the landfill station will prevent large numbers of ravens from roosting there. City Manager Sarvey said the landfill fund contains enough money to buy new garage doors. However, Sarvey said he needs to ensure the funds won’t be needed for future projects first.
In 2019, voters in Rawlins approved using the 6th Penny Tax to repave and replace utilities beneath Edinburgh Street. However, inflation has caused the price of the project to balloon from roughly $3 million three years ago to nearly $8 million today.
The city only asked for $12 million of 6th Penny Tax money in total. The Edinburgh Street project will use up most of the remaining special purpose tax money.
During Thursday’s special workshop, Councilman Weisenburg said they should also begin working on another, less expensive, 6th Penny project.
Councilman Weisenburg asked about the status of the Davis Street extension project. The previous city council set aside money to engineer an extension from Davis Street to Higley Boulevard. At the time, the council said the southern portion of the city is hard to access because Davis Street and Higley Boulevard do not intersect. The council decided that extending Davis Street into Higley Boulevard would be the easiest way to improve access into and out of the neighborhood.
City Manager Sarvey said engineering work on the Davis Street extension has been completed and he is looking for money to begin construction.
Councilman Garner said he originally supported the project. However, the councilman said he no longer thinks that the Davis Street extension is as important as other projects.
Councilman Weisenburg said the city has already paid for the engineering. The councilman said extending Davis Street will make getting around the city easier.
Both, Mayor Terry Weickum and Councilwoman Jacquelin Wells, agreed that the Davis Street extension project is worth finishing.
In the end, the entire Rawlins city council voted to approve the 2024 through 2025 fiscal year budget on the third and final reading.
