Perry City lays out projects, event-center revenue and finances in annual state-of-city update

Mayor and city staff delivered Perry City’s annual state-of-the-city update during the Feb. 13 council meeting, reporting project progress, revenues from the new event center and overall financial metrics for 2024.

The presentation said the city refined gun-range registration and expects greater public usage after contracting with a training group; staff also reported plans to enable online reservations and phone payments. The 1200 West trail and road project have progressed through utility work and are expected to resume asphalt work in spring. Acquisition for a preservation corridor from Highway 89 to the state safety building is complete, and staff said they are seeking large outside investment to build the connecting road.

City staff reported a parks master-plan grant recently awarded and a parks outreach push that will include social-media engagement and a public open house to gather resident input. Staff said Mountain View Park saw a measurable increase in visits after recent equipment additions.

Public-works updates included the Nielsen well core-drilling campaign. Staff reported crews drilled about 600 feet and expect the additional depth to improve water quality and yield; the pump house design is expected to be finished and installed in roughly a year with grant support. FEMA grants were listed as funding for two well generators being installed to improve resilience.

Shanna Johnson, finance staff, presented event-center and building-finance figures: the event center posted about $25,000 in gross revenue for 2024, with 69 total events (48 paid reservations and 21 free uses). Staff said three paid reservations were from nonresidents. Combined lease revenues from two commercial lease areas and event-center revenue covered roughly 62% of the building’s annual bond payment in 2024, and staff projected growing coverage in coming years.

On citywide finances, staff reported an approximate 15% increase in net position to $35,000,000 and total long-term debt of about $8,300,000, primarily for the sewer plant and the city building. Unrestricted fund balance was reported at roughly 30% (about $2.2 million). Building-permit activity stayed steady with roughly 40–50 permits annually in recent years; multifamily permits led the last two years, but staff expects single-family work to pick up.

Economic development highlights included active business licensing and new auto-dealership development at Point Perry and 1100 South commercial area; staff noted a roughly 15% sales-tax share on a parking-lot improvement that will generate local revenue.

City staff also reported planned maintenance on the city building metal roof with a contractor bid of $33,001.89 to extend the roof’s usable life and fix recent leaks, and noted ongoing work to set up road-treatment decision logic from the recent road-scan data. The presentation closed with a list of continuing priorities: the 1200 West trail and road project, parks and trails, capital facilities updates, and commercial development.

No formal decisions were taken on these project updates; staff encouraged public engagement on upcoming park master-plan outreach and noted grant-funded design and construction timelines.