Meadow work session updates draft budget estimates, schedules June public hearing

Meadow — Town staff and meeting participants met in a budget work session to review draft budget worksheets and agreed to update several revenue and expense lines ahead of a planned June public hearing.

Monica, a town staff member, raised changes to the postage line after noting a scheduled mid‑July price increase for stamps: “Stamps are going up mid July. So I'm assuming 20 rolls of Sam's for the whole year. If we buy them before the price goes up, it's gonna be 14 I don't and it's totally an estimate. But $1,460, if we wait, it's gonna go up to $1,560.” Participants agreed to increase the postage estimate above the current $1,500 figure and discussed using $16.50 per roll as a working figure.

The group reviewed electric fund projections in detail. One meeting participant said the town is “thinking we're gonna be at 253,000 in sales based on our current year,” while staff noted current collections are lower and two more billing cycles remain. Historical annual electric sales cited in the discussion included roughly $148,500 in 2022, about $196,100 in 2023 and approximately $223,800 in 2024; current-year collections were stated at about $202,080. Participants flagged uncertainty related to power sourcing and contracts, noting purchases from UAMPS and Dixie and a share allocation tied to a facility referred to in the discussion as “Hunter.” One participant asked staff to check whether recent plant operations will change the town’s market purchases or costs.

Participants also discussed occasional “margin refunds” the town has received from power suppliers in prior years — figures mentioned included roughly $4,800, $9,000 and $7,800 in various years — and recommended setting expected margin refunds to $0 for the upcoming year unless staff confirm otherwise.

Other line items reviewed included connection fees, disconnect/reconnect fees, garbage revenue and cemetery lot sales. On cemetery lots, staff suggested carrying forward a $10,000 estimate rather than raising it after underestimating demand this year. For garbage, staff recommended estimates near recent averages. For depreciation, interest earnings and some maintenance lines, participants largely agreed to carry current assumptions forward but noted several lines may need revisiting after staff completes the consolidated worksheet.

On budget balance and transfers, a staff member reminded the group that general fund totals must balance and that if enterprise funds run short the town would show the difference and, if needed, move funds from the general fund subject to public hearing requirements. The group discussed that transfers into or out of the electric fund were not planned at this time.

Scheduling and next steps were set as follow-up actions. Speaker 1 proposed a June public hearing date; participants reported scheduling conflicts for mid‑June and discussed alternative dates. One participant proposed June 23 as a tentative date for a public hearing to precede a town council meeting; multiple participants noted they would email any further adjustments. A staff member was asked to enter the agreed changes into the worksheet and reissue it so commissioners/participants can confirm where the draft does not balance before the public hearing.

The meeting concluded with a motion to adjourn; the motion received a second and passed on a voice vote. The group did not take any formal votes on the budget itself during the session.

Next steps: staff will update the worksheet with the postage and electric assumptions and circulate updated pages; participants will check calendar availability for the June public hearing and notify staff of any requested changes.