Saratoga approves budget

During their June 15 meeting, the Saratoga Town Council held the third and final reading on two ordinances. Ordinance No. 859 set the budget for the Town of Saratoga’s 2021/2022 Fiscal Year while Ordinance No. 858 amended Chapter 5.08 of the Saratoga Municipal Code.

Ordinance No. 859

After multiple budget workshops and three readings, the Town of Saratoga has approved a general fund budget of nearly $3.2 million and an enterprise fund budget of $5.6 million. In the general fund, the governing body is anticipating to transfer more than $150,000 into reserves.

With a total of $3,197,890, the bulk of anticipated general fund revenue comes from taxes at $2,743,500. The next largest portion of the anticipated revenues comes from intergovernmental revenue at $258,390. The rest of the anticipated revenues all come in under $100,000 with $57,550 anticipated for charges for services and $54,900 for licenses and permits.

When it comes to the activated expenditures, the Saratoga Police Department accounts for nearly a third of the general fund budget. The police department’s expenditures total at $1,054,300 with $880,350 budgeted for salaries and payroll benefits and $173,950 for general expenses. 

At $598,400, the streets department is the next largest expense. Of that, $323,800 accounts for salaries and payroll benefits and $274,600 is for general expenses. The third largest expense is Town Hall Administration at $539,730. Of that amount, $265,500 is budgeted for salaries and payroll benefits and $274,230 for general expenses.

One of the bigger changes in the upcoming budget compared to that of Fiscal Year 2020/2021 is under planning. When the Saratoga Town Council passed Ordinance No. 857 last year, it had just $28,800 under salaries and payroll benefits for a planning and zoning officer. That has been increased to $77,000 and putting the total expenditures for planning at $91,500 which is more than double what was approved last year.

Easily the biggest revenue and expense under the enterprise funds can be found in the airport fund at $3,643,386. With only $53,400 budgeted for general expenses, the majority of the revenue and expenditures in the airport fund comes from $3,589,986 for capital projects, namely the expansion of the apron at Shively Airfield.

Additionally, under the Specific Purpose Tax, the Town of Saratoga is anticipating $750,000 in revenue with $94,665.25 going towards capital projects and $655,334.75 transferred to reserves.

Ordinance No. 858

The third reading of Ordinance No. 858 brings an end, for the foreseeable future, to a discussion that began several months ago with the Saratoga-Carbon County Impact Joint Powers Board (SCCIJPB). As the SCCIJPB, at the direction of Chairman Richard Raymer, began to discuss pursuing extensively delinquent accounts, a review of municipal code by Director of Public Works Jon Winter highlighted inconsistencies in the process of terminating services.

The ordinance amends sections 13.60.010, 13.60.020 and 13.40.030 of the municipal code with 13.60.020 being removed entirely and combined with 13.60.010. Other changes include the day of billing from the 15th day of the month to the 27th day of the month.

Both ordinances can be found in the public notices section of this week’s Saratoga Sun.

The next meeting of the Saratoga Town Council will be at 6 p.m. on July 6 at Saratoga Town Hall.