FRIDAY, August 28, 2026|
Photo – Rawlins Finance Director Laura Malone – Courtesy City of Rawlins
The Rawlins finance director delivered encouraging news.
During the August 18th Rawlins City Council meeting, Finance Director Laura Malone presented a high‑level overview of the city’s finances from the previous fiscal year, which ran from July 1st, 2025, through June 30th, 2026. She said the main operating budget, or general fund, performed better than expected. The city was projected to receive nearly $14.7 million in revenue, but it brought in $16 million. Finance Director Malone added that the budget was roughly $1.4 million higher than the 2024 through 2025 fiscal year.
Why was the budget higher than expected? Finance Director Malone explained that increased county‑wide spending resulted in greater than projected 5th and 6th penny tax collections. She said those funds are used for major expenditures and large‑scale projects, including the Edinburgh Street rebuild currently underway.
The combined revenue from the 5th and 6th penny taxes was nearly $660,000 higher than projected.
In addition, Malone said revenue from licenses and permits, the cemetery, police and court, general fund grants, gaming, and franchise fees exceeded expectations by a total of $280,000.
However, not every area of the general budget showed gains. Malone said Rawlins didn’t receive as much money as projected from cigarette taxes and vehicle registration fees. She said cigarette revenue is expected to keep falling, but she was not sure why vehicle registration fees dropped.
According to Malone’s report, Rawlins received roughly $6,000 below its cigarette tax projection and just under $25,000 under its vehicle registration estimate. Because the county does not report how many vehicles are registered in Rawlins, Malone wrote that the decline in revenue may be tied to fewer registrations, aging vehicles, or a mix of the two.
Finance Director Laura Malone said mineral taxes were $32,000 below expectations, which she attributed to the unseasonably warm winter limiting the need for natural gas to heat residents’ homes. Mineral taxes are charged to companies that extract minerals in the state. In her report, Malone wrote that most energy prices were down during the previous fiscal year, but that the sector is expected to stabilize in the next.
Impact assistance fees, which are used to mitigate the negative effects of nearby infrastructure projects, were also lower by nearly $28,000. Malone said the city has no say how much of that revenue is collected.
And finally, the finance director reported that interest on the city’s savings accounts was $173,000 below expectations. She said the money hadn’t been properly invested, an issue she has since corrected.
Finance Director Malone said her priority in the previous fiscal year was increasing the city’s General Fund Reserves. City policy demands maintaining reserves of at least $10.6 million, or 270 days of operating expenses. Malone said that by the end of the fiscal year, she had surpassed that amount, giving the city 310 days of reserves.
With that goal accomplished, Malone said her priority in the current fiscal year is to increase the city’s Capital Replacement Fund, which is used to replace major assets as they wear out, such as vehicles, building infrastructure, and technology. At the end of the 2025 fiscal year, the Capital Replacement Fund contained just under $6 million. Malone projected that $23 million will be needed to cover the city’s long‑term replacement needs.
Malone reported that two of the city’s three parks and recreation programs earned enough revenue in the previous fiscal year to cover their operational costs. The Rochelle Ranch Golf Course and Rawlins Family Recreation Center generated 138 and 142 percent of their projected expenses, respectively. The indoor and outdoor shooting ranges only generated 71 percent of their projected costs.
Malone also reported that the city’s three enterprise funds, water, sewer, and landfill and recycling, were profitable in the previous fiscal year. Per state law, enterprise funds must generate enough revenue through fees to cover the entirety of their operating costs, rather than relying on tax dollars. The water enterprise fund posted just under $3 million in net profit, the sewer fund posted $1 million, and the landfill and recycling fund brought in just over $71,000 in total.
In conclusion, Finance Director Malone said the city is in a strong financial position heading into the 2026 through 2027 fiscal year. She said her department will focus on increasing the Capital Replacement Fund.
