Orangeville council approves amended FY2024-25 budget, allocates funds for roads, cemetery and recreation

The Orangeville City Council approved amendments to its fiscal year 2024–25 budget on March 13, adopting adjustments that move modest revenue increases into roads, downtown lighting, cemetery projects and recreation needs.

Council members voted to approve the amendment after a public hearing was opened at the start of the meeting and closed after discussion; the motion to adopt the amended budget passed on a voice vote. "Motion passes," the chair said after the roll-call affirmations.

The amendments reallocate several revenue and expense lines rather than increasing the city—s overall long-term spending plan. City staff reported a net revenue increase of $4,189, raising the budget from $848,033 to $852,222. Major line changes cited by staff included a $25,000 increase in the sales-and-use-tax line, a $15,000 decrease in telecommunications taxes, and a $5,000 increase in transient-tax receipts. Staff also recorded a cemetery grant that needed to be placed in the correct account.

Gary (city staff) described the sales-and-use-tax adjustments: "Sales and use taxes. So we get sales and use taxes from, like, Rocky Mountain Power, Dominion Energy, and Retailcom..." He summarized those revenue-line reallocations as part of the budget amendment.

The council discussed several restricted or earmarked funds. Class C road (BC roads) receipts showed a substantial balance (about $480,000) carried forward; council members said those funds are restricted for roads or safety projects and are being tapped for sidewalk, curb-and-gutter and street-lighting work on the main street. The council also budgeted for three radar speed signs to be placed at key entrances to the city, though staff said the signs had not yet been ordered and must complete additional council approvals.

Council members discussed external grant applications tied to recreation projects. The minutes record that the city applied for a $15,000–$20,000 grant to assist with pickleball courts and that county COVID-relief funds of about $62,000 were likely to be awarded for the same project. "...it's sounding favorable that we're gonna get $62,000 from the county from COVID money for pickleball courts," the chair said.

On payroll and allocation adjustments, the amendment corrected salary distributions across departments. Notable changes included raising council salaries and wages by $4,100, admin wages by $7,000, and moving funding from an attorney line to an accountant/auditor line. Road salaries and wages were increased by $18,000 (from about $39,000 to about $57,000) to correct payroll allocations, and employee benefits and phone/utility reimbursement lines were restructured to provide clearer accounting.

Cemetery projects were a recurring topic. The council recorded a cemetery-digitization grant increasing that line to $10,950 (the transcript notes a $10,000 grant and an ongoing annual recurring $950 cost to pay Sunrise Engineering for programming). The council also budgeted up to $35,000 for a cemetery sprinkler project to add a pump, new heads and control boxes because the existing pond-to-head pressure was inadequate. "The cemetery doesn't have enough pressure to run all the sprinklers... so we are putting in a pump and all new sprinkler heads and timers," one council speaker said. Staff said the city will provide the installation and that the amount budgeted is a cushion for unforeseen work; they noted they do not expect full use of the entire $35,000.

To balance the amendment the city used about $5,700 from savings and removed $55,936 that had carried over in road-related funds. The transcript also records that the city's ARPA funds are exhausted and were not used in this amendment.

The council approved the amended FY2024-25 budget by voice votes recorded as "Aye" from Tracy, Carrie, Doug, Moran and Kevin; the chair declared the motion passed.

The council said several accounting and administrative details will be refined later, including separating out sundry revenues into clearer sublines and finalizing purchases that still require additional council approval, such as the speed signs.

The council closed the related public hearing later in the meeting and moved on to other agenda items.