CREEDE- After hearing public comment during the work session Nov. 19, the Creede board of trustees continued their review of the 2020 budget, which according to Town Manager, Louis Fineburg, was the second discussion of the draft budget during a work session.
“I have incorporated some changes from our previous review and refined some numbers on the budget while considering some general comments. The budget balances both the general fund and the water and sewer fund balance this year with some caveats. The thing that sends both of the budgets into the red are primarily large capital projects, so if you take out large capital projects both budgets balance,” explained Fineburg.
Fineburg continued to explain that if the board chose to put a sales tax increase of 2 percent on the April ballot that 1 percent would go to the general fund and the other 1 percent would go to capital improvement projects. “This budget is assuming a 2 percent increase though it is still open for change if the board wishes to do so. A 2 percent sales tax increase, based on previous numbers, equates to about $125,000.”
“What I would recommend with the capital projects, which is a five year capital improvement plan and reflects what can be done in the 2020 budget, is to do all of these whether or not the sales tax increase passes, but I would suggest waiting until April to see if the sales tax passes then I would have plans to definitely do all of the projects. If we can only do one next year, I would suggest the backup generators. The generators are life and safety issues and should be considered first.”
Fineburg stated that if all of the capital improvement projects were to be done in the 2020 budget it would total $865,000. “Of that $865,000, $364,000 could come from grant funding in the best-case scenario and $511,000 would be estimated city funding.”
Fineburg stated that the town would need four generators in order to meet state requirements. Two of which would be placed in the well house and be used for the water tanks. “We have no generators at this time. I think propane would be our best bet, but they can be either propane or diesel. I highly suggest that this be the one project the board chooses. We had power outages recently and we got lucky that the water tank was full. If it hadn’t been, we would have been out of water pretty quickly and then we would have had a double emergency on our hands.”
“Mind you, even if we didn’t do any major projects, this budget still does a lot of things as far as facility improvement, equipment purchases and other things.”
Fineburg closed the discussion stating that the town could hope to complete some of the capital improvement projects and that the sales tax increase initiative passes then plan to do more in coming years.