{"id":1319851,"date":"2020-05-09T15:35:48","date_gmt":"2020-05-09T21:35:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/?p=996215"},"modified":"2020-05-09T16:17:45","modified_gmt":"2020-05-09T22:17:45","slug":"in-worst-case-scenario-glenwood-must-bridge-6-million-general-fund-gap-in-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/in-worst-case-scenario-glenwood-must-bridge-6-million-general-fund-gap-in-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"In \u2018worst case scenario\u2019 Glenwood must bridge $6 million general fund gap in 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image p402_hide\">\n<div class=\"caption-container\">\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"939\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/05\/IMG_1945-1024x939.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" alt srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/05\/IMG_1945-1024x939.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/05\/IMG_1945-300x275.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/05\/IMG_1945-768x704.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/05\/IMG_1945-1536x1408.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/05\/IMG_1945.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"><\/p><figcaption><strong>Since mid March, the city&#8217;s public facilities, including city hall, have remained closed due to the COVID-19 crisis. Matthew Bennett\/Post Independent<\/strong><br \/><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Should the worst-case scenario play out, the city of Glenwood Springs\u2019 general fund will endure a $6 million hit in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 crisis.<\/p>\n<p>Chief Operating Officer Steve Boyd said the city generally collects approximately $20 million worth of sales and use tax revenues, annually, with close to $7.7 million going toward the general fund.<\/p>\n<p>The worst-case scenario assumes that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/news\/city-of-glenwood-springs-cuts-revenue-predictions-by-half-announces-budget-cuts-due-to-covid-19\/\">the city would lose out on 50%<\/a> of its sales tax revenue for the remainder of the year.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have this tough phenomenon here. We\u2019re sales tax-based but we\u2019re a tourism community,\u201d Boyd said at a May 7 city council meeting. \u201cTourism is one of the industries that is going to get hit hardest here and we\u2019re already seeing that happen.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"col\" readability=\"6\">\n<div class=\"row gspi-donation gspi-donation-mobile p-0\" readability=\"7\">\n<div class=\"col-xl-4 p-2\">\n<div data-bg=\"url(https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/03\/PI-logo-white.png)\" class=\"p-0 mt-2 mb-2 h-75 text-center rocket-lazyload\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/03\/PI-logo-white.png\" class=\"logo m-0 p-0 invisible\"><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><h3 class=\"d-inline mr-3\">Support Local Journalism<\/h3>\n<p><button class=\"btn d-inline\" type=\"button\" onclick=\"handleDonationButtonClickMidArticle()\">Donate<\/button><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Backed by a healthy economy, the city\u2019s sales tax revenue stream had been right on pace with projections through February.<\/p>\n<p>Although the city was still in the process of collecting sales tax receipts for March, Boyd projected an 18% decrease for the month and a 7% decrease for 2020\u2019s first quarter.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe won\u2019t see April numbers until a little bit later in the month but we\u2019re going to get crushed,\u201d Boyd said. \u201cApril is going to be a very, very difficult sales tax collection period.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Boyd forecasted April\u2019s sales tax revenue being down between 45% and 55%.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Bridging The Gap<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>When the city puts together its general fund budget every year, it assumes that all of its vacant positions will eventually be filled, Boyd said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe budget for a general fund to be fully staffed and it never works out that way,\u201d Boyd said. \u201cWe\u2019re in a hiring freeze now so I don\u2019t expect that, other than a police officer or two, we\u2019re going to hire anybody between now and the end of the year.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Should that be the case, the city would save approximately $650,000 Boyd explained.<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, because the city had to submit its 2020 budget prior to the November election, it was unable to factor in the funds raised from Glenwood\u2019s recently imposed tobacco tax.<\/p>\n<p>Glenwood voters <a href=\"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/news\/tobacco-taxes-pass-in-glenwood-springs-and-new-castle\/\">approved<\/a> the city\u2019s tobacco tax last November, which in 2020 should bring in $650,000.<\/p>\n<p>According to Boyd, excluding public safety, the city\u2019s various departments were also able to slash just over $600,000 worth of expenditures for the remainder of the year.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are no operating budget cuts to the fire department or to the police department,\u201d Boyd said.<\/p>\n<p>In mid-April, the city laid off all of its part-time employees who were paid out of the general fund. The tough decision to do so, will likely save approximately $540,000.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs soon as we can get back up and running, we\u2019ll bring them back to work,\u201d Boyd said.<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, the combination of furlough days for some full-time employees, and a 10% reduction in salary for others, as well as halting all 401(k) contributions will save the general fund nearly $900,000.<\/p>\n<p>The city will also temporarily divert nearly $700,000 from purchasing new vehicles and other capital expenses toward offsetting a roughly $6 million general fund deficit.<\/p>\n<p>Lastly, under the worst-case scenario, the city will also pull $2 million from its reserves.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAll of these things taken together add up to about $6 million,\u201d Boyd said. \u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s going to be that bad between here and the end of the year. I certainly hope that it is not.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Boyd is expected to brief council on the city\u2019s other funds such as its enterprise and capital funds on May 21.<\/p>\n<p>The city has 20 different funds, and its annual budget can vary between $65 and $90 million dollars.<\/p>\n<p>The city\u2019s overall budget fluctuation primarily depends on what capital projects are planned that year.<\/p>\n<p>The general fund is the city\u2019s largest fund and typically has a budget of around $21 million.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe wanted to give employees a sense of stability,\u201d said Glenwood Springs City Manager Debra Figueroa. \u201cThis plan gives us at least certainty for a little while that we know what we\u2019re doing and where we\u2019re going.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em><a href=\"mailto:mabennett@postindependent.com\">mabennett@postindependent.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/news\/in-worst-case-scenario-glenwood-must-bridge-6-million-general-fund-gap-in-2020\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Since mid March, the city&#8217;s public facilities, including city hall, have remained closed due to the COVID-19 crisis. Matthew Bennett\/Post Independent Should the worst-case scenario play out, the city of Glenwood Springs\u2019 general fund will endure a $6 million hit in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 crisis. Chief Operating Officer Steve Boyd said [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1319851","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-06 12:10:22","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1319851","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1319851"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1319851\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1319852,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1319851\/revisions\/1319852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1319851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1319851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1319851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}