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The Town of Silt, hit hard by the ongoing recession and slump in oil and gas drilling, is expecting roughly half the revenues next year that it took in for 2008, and a 24 percent decline from revenues in 2009, according to current projections.
According to the town's proposed budget, which is still being worked on by town staff and the board of trustees, Silt is anticipating roughly $1,760,000 in revenues for its general fund in 2010.
That compares to more than $3.5 million in 2008 and more than $2.3 million in 2009, as projected.
As things now stand, the town is looking at total expenses in the general fund of approximately $2 million, meaning the town would have to dip into its reserves to stay in the black.
Town Administrator Betsy Suerth reported to the trustees that the town expects to end the year with roughly $775,000 in reserves. That, she reported in a summary submitted at the Oct. 26 trustees' meeting, equates to four or five months' worth of operating expenses.
But if the town has to pull $250,000 or so out of the reserves, she wrote, that would leave the town with about $520,000, or three months worth of operating expenses as a cushion, at the end of 2010.
In her budget summary, Suerth warned the trustees that it may be necessary to dip even further into the reserves for the 2011 and 2012 budget years.
“I am cautiously optimistic that this [reserve] balance will sustain the General Fund for at least two years, perhaps even three years of a possible flat or slowly recovering economy,” Suerth concluded.
Still, she said, that would leave the town in an uncomfortably precarious financial position, and she suggested that in order to save as much of the reserves as possible, the trustees should consider additional budget cuts next year “if the economy does not show some signs of recovery by September of 2010.”
Cuts already being written into the 2010 budget include a salary freeze for employees, along with 15 “furlough” days — days off without pay — starting in late 2009 and continuing in 2010.
The trustees, too, are expected to see a cut in their “discretionary fund,” handed out as donations to local entities. According to Suerth's budget documents, the discretionary fund is being sliced in half for next year, to about $9,000.
Town staff, including the administrator's office, the clerk, the planning department and the building department all will see significant reductions in expenditures for the coming year, according to budget documents reviewed by the trustees for the Oct. 26 meeting.
The police department, according to the budget documents, will be cut to $584,654 in expenditures for next year, compared to $621,641 budgeted for 2009. Those cuts include a 10 percent reduction in payroll. In general, expenses are being either held or reduced in a variety of line items throughout the budget.
In the public works budget, according to the documents, the streets department has been cut from $215,247 in budgeted expenses for 2009, to $170,124 for 2010, while the parks department has dropped from a budget of $112,000 in 2009 to $88,607 for the coming year.
The Water/Wastewater Fund budget calls for $1.6 million in revenues and just over $2 million in expenses, according to the documents presented to the trustees. That leaves more than $466,000 to be made up by dipping into the fund's $2.3 million in cash reserves.
Suerth and the trustees will continue to work on the budget over the next several weeks, with formal adoption planned for late November or early December.
jcolson@postindependent.com
According to the town's proposed budget, which is still being worked on by town staff and the board of trustees, Silt is anticipating roughly $1,760,000 in revenues for its general fund in 2010.
That compares to more than $3.5 million in 2008 and more than $2.3 million in 2009, as projected.
As things now stand, the town is looking at total expenses in the general fund of approximately $2 million, meaning the town would have to dip into its reserves to stay in the black.
Town Administrator Betsy Suerth reported to the trustees that the town expects to end the year with roughly $775,000 in reserves. That, she reported in a summary submitted at the Oct. 26 trustees' meeting, equates to four or five months' worth of operating expenses.
But if the town has to pull $250,000 or so out of the reserves, she wrote, that would leave the town with about $520,000, or three months worth of operating expenses as a cushion, at the end of 2010.
In her budget summary, Suerth warned the trustees that it may be necessary to dip even further into the reserves for the 2011 and 2012 budget years.
“I am cautiously optimistic that this [reserve] balance will sustain the General Fund for at least two years, perhaps even three years of a possible flat or slowly recovering economy,” Suerth concluded.
Still, she said, that would leave the town in an uncomfortably precarious financial position, and she suggested that in order to save as much of the reserves as possible, the trustees should consider additional budget cuts next year “if the economy does not show some signs of recovery by September of 2010.”
Cuts already being written into the 2010 budget include a salary freeze for employees, along with 15 “furlough” days — days off without pay — starting in late 2009 and continuing in 2010.
The trustees, too, are expected to see a cut in their “discretionary fund,” handed out as donations to local entities. According to Suerth's budget documents, the discretionary fund is being sliced in half for next year, to about $9,000.
Town staff, including the administrator's office, the clerk, the planning department and the building department all will see significant reductions in expenditures for the coming year, according to budget documents reviewed by the trustees for the Oct. 26 meeting.
The police department, according to the budget documents, will be cut to $584,654 in expenditures for next year, compared to $621,641 budgeted for 2009. Those cuts include a 10 percent reduction in payroll. In general, expenses are being either held or reduced in a variety of line items throughout the budget.
In the public works budget, according to the documents, the streets department has been cut from $215,247 in budgeted expenses for 2009, to $170,124 for 2010, while the parks department has dropped from a budget of $112,000 in 2009 to $88,607 for the coming year.
The Water/Wastewater Fund budget calls for $1.6 million in revenues and just over $2 million in expenses, according to the documents presented to the trustees. That leaves more than $466,000 to be made up by dipping into the fund's $2.3 million in cash reserves.
Suerth and the trustees will continue to work on the budget over the next several weeks, with formal adoption planned for late November or early December.
jcolson@postindependent.com
