Bluff council previews amended 2025 budget, tentatively sets public hearing for May 22

Bluff Town Manager Erin Nelson on Tuesday reviewed a proposed amended fiscal year 2025 budget and a tentative fiscal year 2026 budget, saying the town will hold a public hearing on both on Thursday, May 22 at 9 a.m.

Nelson told council members the proposed amended 2025 budget increases “to about a million dollars” compared with the originally adopted $635,000 budget and stressed that the town must balance revenues and expenditures while using fund balance carryovers. She said the proposed fund balance rolling into 2026 is about $84,000.

The draft shows significant activity in capital projects. Nelson said about $335,000 of the adjusted revenue reflects transfers from capital projects — roughly $300,000 of that tied to the Bluff Community Center (referred to as the CCC in materials). She told the council the roads fund is $253,901, with nearly $198,000 planned to roll into 2026 to help pay for larger road projects.

Nelson outlined other specific items included in the draft: an airport fund supported by hangar rents and insurance costs; a possible USDA-funded portable generator that would carry a Bluff match of roughly $14,000 on a $47,000 award; and an awarded playground grant of about $165,000 requiring roughly $13,000 in cash match. She also said the town has a cemetery grant application for about $20,000 and has budgeted an additional $77,500 from capital projects toward cemetery work.

On revenues for 2026, Nelson said she did not include a change to the property tax rate in the draft and noted the town could pursue a truth-in-taxation process if the council chose to do so. She projected an overall tax revenue decline of about 26% versus 2025 estimates — driven by an estimated 33% drop in resort tax and a roughly 35% drop in sales tax collections — and said those projections can be adjusted before adoption.

Council members discussed how much to budget for legal services in 2026 after several years of elevated spending related to litigation and the CCC project. Members suggested figures in the $60,000–$75,000 range; staff said they would carry an amount near $67,500 in the draft to reflect council feedback. Nelson and staff also asked councilors to review the detailed PDF posted on the town website and to submit written comments before the May 22 public hearing.

No formal budget adoption occurred at the work session; Nelson said the hearing on May 22 would be followed by a special meeting to consider approval. She asked councilors to review the line-by-line draft and said staff will finalize numbers, and make any last adjustments, ahead of the hearing.

Ending

The council did not take a final vote on the budgets at the work session. Staff will post the full draft online for review and the council will take public testimony at 9 a.m. May 22 before a special meeting to consider adoption.