Hayden approves tentative $26 million budget

In a move consistent with the town leaders’ fiscal conservatism, the Hayden City Council on Tuesday night tentatively adopted its $26.3 million projected budget for the 2021 fiscal year.

“Because our levy rate is so low,” Hayden Councilwoman Jeri DeLange said after the unanimous vote, “and because it’s been like that since before I came into office, I knew going in the team would not only present a balanced budget, but that we’d be able to get the best bang for the buck. This has been a very challenging year. We’ve tried to be even more careful about our expenditures out of an obligation to our citizens, and I think we’ve done that.”

This year’s budget is actually thinner on expenditures from FY2020's $25.7 million budget, a result of investments the city made that are already paying off, according to city administrator Brett Boyer.

“This budget doesn’t have a lot of different projects or capital items, as our budget did last year,” Boyer said. “We spent quite a lot of money on much-needed trucks and road graders … which was very good for us.”

This year’s budget does include approximately $105,000 for a new sander as a capital item.

Despite heavy early projected losses because of COVID-19 Boyer said the revenue projections weren’t as dire as he first believed.

“We knew we would probably see a reduction in revenue and sales tax,” Boyer said. “… Revenues are looking better than we thought but stayed conservative. Sales tax money looked better than we expected, but they were still down. Highway user money is still down. We were expecting a 20- to 25-percent drop, and it was really in the 10-percent range.”

The $1.6 million base carried over from last year helped offset dips in key revenue streams. The city is projected to lose just over $18,000 in state sales tax, an $84,000 drop in projected development fees, and over $100,000 in state highway funds, among other losses.

Hayden utilized the three-percent property tax portion of its budget, adding $48,071 to the coffers.

The news on the COVID-19 front was not all bad. Hayden’s share of state liquor funds was projected to jump almost $88,000, for those of you looking for a semi-bright side.

But one of the most notable hits to city services was found in the books of the Recreation Department, an unfortunate financial casualty as the pandemic damages coffers across the country. As the unknown and risk of infection continues to keep kids from interacting on playgrounds, fees the city projects to collect will be $18,745 lower than years past.

“We had to drop a couple programs because of COVID,” Boyer said, “and we’re expecting those fees to (reflect) that.”

One project cut from the budget altogether was the Fourth and Prairie project, an improvement that was originally going to build a roundabout at the intersection that grows busier each year.

“We don’t have that on the (capital improvement costs) because Dalton Gardens leadership said they don’t want to do that,” said Melissa Cleveland, the community and economic development director for the city. “And we can’t realistically do that without their support. We still need it but without a partnership, there just isn’t a way to (provide for the project).”

A public hearing is scheduled for Aug. 25 at 5 p.m., where citizens can add their two cents to the budget process.