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    A balanced budget: Riverton council approves minor changes to end the fiscal year

    Riverton finance director Mia Harris gave a succinct overview this week of the minor changes needed to balance the municipal budget before the end of this fiscal year.

    The Riverton City Council approved the budget amendments during a regular meeting Tuesday.

    Most of the changes were made without any increases to the city’s “bottom line,” Harris said.

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    “Historically we cover unanticipated expenditures through line-item transfers from other cost centers within the budget,” she explained. “We can appropriately balance the budget through this methodology without requesting an increase.”

    In the general fund, for example, Harris recommended using available money in the law enforcement budget to cover overages in the victim witness coordinator and fire line items.

    Similarly, she said, money in the general fund’s capital outlay budget could support over-expenditures in the public works and debt service line items.  

    The total general fund adjustment totaled almost $160,000, and Harris said it did not require any money be added to the budget.

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    Airport, Rendezvous

    Harris requested a $5,500 budget adjustment in the city’s airport fund for terminal building costs.

    “The charges for heat exceeded budgetary projections by 10 percent this year,” she said, noting that “the staff has budgeted accordingly in the fiscal year 2023 budget.”

    The money will come from the airport operations budget, she noted, so “there are no new monies requested in the airport fund.”

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    The city’s Rendezvous fund did require an increase to its overall budget: $23,000 to accommodate equipment repairs and a new hot air balloon envelope.

    Harris noted that the city’s Rendezvous Committee is raising money to fund the envelope purchase.

    “Thus far the committee has raised $24,500 out of their $31,000 goal,” she said. “Because there is sufficient revenue, the staff requests approval for the increase.”

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    Enterprise funds

    A personnel change in Riverton’s customer service cost center required an adjustment of $1,200 in the water fund, $1,000 in the wastewater fund, and $2,900 in the sanitation fund due to the selection of a new benefits package, Harris said.

    Again, she said, “no additional increase to the overall budget is requested” to accommodate the change; instead, available funds in the capital outlay cost centers will be used to offset the customer service overruns.

    Another $23,000 from the capital outlay budget was moved to the debt service line item in the wastewater fund to cover the loan payment for improvements to the sewer lines on North Federal Boulevard, Harris said.

    In the sanitation fund, Harris said the capital outlay budget would cover about $525 in cost overruns that involved personnel changes and expenses for gas, oil, and vehicle and equipment maintenance.

    In total, she said the recommended adjustments reflected a change of about $215,000 to the municipal budget, with a net increase of $23,000.

    For more information call the City of Riverton at 856-2227.

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