Colby faces $40,000 deficit in 2023

The Colby city council held a finance committee meeting before their normal council meeting on Monday, October 3 to go over the city’s budget for 2023. There was some significant discussion, as the initial proposal for the general fund expense budget came in $82,110 over the total revenues budgeted for the year, resulting in the need to cut various proposed items to bring the two figures closer.

The total revenues estimated for the 2023 year for the general fund actually increased from the 2022 budget, going from $1,558,364 in 2022 to $1,583,192 in 2023, which is a 1.53% increase. Taxes to be collected from properties and municipal water utilities saw the largest increase in revenue for the city, with general property taxes seeing a 1.87% increase from the 2022 budget and taxes from the water utilities to increase from $105,000 in 2022 to $120,000 in 2023. State shared taxes went down once again, going from $461,800 to $453,535.

While the total revenues are budgeted to increase from this year, the total expenditures from the general fund were proposed to see an even larger increase. The initial budget saw an increase from $1,529,364 in 2022 to $1,664,300 in 2023.

Many of the increases were due to adjustments to the current operating costs, such as higher gas prices and other materials. Both the police and fire department budgets were raised this year and were approved by the respective municipalities needed to approve them.

With these items largely off the table, either because they had already been approved or because they were deemed as necessary cost increases, the council needed to find other areas to cut.

One proposed item that was discussed was an update to the official map of the city, which is held at city hall and is used by the clerk’s office for official lot dimensions and street widths, amongst other things. The map has not been updated for a decade and a half and it was proposed that $10,000 be set aside for the project, though an exact quote had not been obtained by the time of the meeting. Ultimately, this was cut, as the current map, while admittedly not ideal, is still usable and other digital options were discussed as possible options to be explored.

Two public works items were also reduced. Initially, $32,500 had been requested to crush granite, as the pile the city had was used up during the street construction projects this year and it needs to be replaced. With no big upcoming projects like the ones seen this summer on the agenda for next year, however, all the granite would not necessarily be needed at the moment. It was decided that $5,000 would be set aside to purchase necessary granite and to put off the crushing. Department of Public Works head Harland Higley Jr. also stated that $4,000 could be cut from funds set aside for sidewalk maintenance.

It was also debated whether or not a project to update the city’s comprehensive plan should be put off until a future date. The proposed cost for the project stated it would be around $15,000, but it was noted by mayor James Schmidt that this had not been updated since 2009, when it is recommended that it be updated every five years. Some discussion was held over whether or not it could be put off for another year, given that it had already been so long overdue, but ultimately it was kept as part of the proposed budget.

The total cut from the budget after the meeting concluded was $41,500, which still left the budget in the hole, but further cuts could be made when the spending from 2022 becomes clearer and items of the budget that spent under on their projections this year could be downsized.

Ultimately, the goal of the meeting was to get the proposed general fund budget under an 8 percent increase, as that was what would allow the city to still receive $23,000 from the state from their expenditure restraint program.

When looking at the city’s capital fund, the overall budget dropped from $1,612,650 to $510,100. This largely was due to the amount set aside for street construction was dropped from $1,526,650 to $160,000, as both the Community Drive and North Second Street constructions wrap up. The parks and recreation budget was increased. The largest portions are to be allocated to updating the city’s banners, put blacktop in at South Sixth Street Park, and replace a light pole at the city softball diamond. There was also $262,000 set aside for an addition or separate storage shed for the city’s shop to house equipment currently sitting outside.

Other Business

n Trick-or-treat hours were set for Halloween. They will take place between the hours of 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 31. A suggestion from the community to set the start and end times back an hour was brought up by the council, but concerns regarding safety prompted the council to keep the same timeframe they have used in the past.

n Leaf pick-up is scheduled for October 31 through November 4.

n Higley informed the council that there was a water main break near the intersection of Highway 13 and Broadway Street on Friday. While repairs were made, this is the third break on the stretch of pipe along the highway since May, one of which was near the same spot and the other was near Marathon Street. The entire pipe, which runs from Monroe to Spence Street, is decaying and he advised that it be replaced in the near future.