Virgin council reviews monthly budget, schedules sheriff Q&A and readies water surcharge ordinance

The Virgin Town Council on Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024, reviewed a new monthly budget format and several administrative and infrastructure items, set a public Q&A with the Washington County sheriff about a proposed substation at the town hall and placed a water-development surcharge ordinance on next week’s agenda for council action.

Town Treasurer Becky told the council she is distributing a monthly spreadsheet designed to show month-to-month trends and “red flags” in spending. Becky said the format will remain month-based because “for me, it shows trends.” She reported payroll entries are still being adjusted and that some utility figures are inflated because a check intended for Rocky Mountain Power was stolen from the post office and cashed; staff have reissued payment and are working with the bank on recovery efforts.

Becky also described changes to general-ledger coding to provide more granular tracking of capital and contract expenses, and she flagged a one-time utility-related invoice tied to moving a power pole. She said auditing costs this year are higher than usual because the town is being billed now for work that under normal timing would have appeared in a later fiscal period. “Because the last audit took a year and a half … they’re billing us now because they’re doing the audit,” she said.

The council placed several items on upcoming agendas. The mayor announced that Tuesday’s regular meeting will open with an open question-and-answer session with the county sheriff to discuss the sheriff’s interest in locating a substation in the renovated town hall; the council said the session will allow the sheriff to explain intended operations and impacts and will…