Casper council reviews second budget amendment that shifts capital and operating dollars
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Summary
Staff summarized 38 project changes in Budget Amendment B, including a $2 million reservoir loan reduction, a $1,014,000 rise in wastewater treatment costs, transit grant awards, and added fire callback pay; council asked for clarifications and agreed to forward the amendment toward a resolution.
City staff presented the city’s routine second budget amendment, which accounting staff assembled to capture midyear adjustments, grant awards and project changes.
Senior accountant Steve Faganate told council the amendment includes 38 project changes and highlighted eight major items. He said bids for the reservoir project came in under budget and staff proposes reducing the project loan by $2 million. The FY26 priority water main replacement line was increased by $1 million to provide flexibility for unplanned main replacements. Staff also proposed piggybacking on a YDOT I‑25 marginal project to lower water-main replacement costs.
Faganate reported an increase in wastewater treatment costs of $1,014,000; he said about 85% of that increase is borne by the city’s sewer fund, roughly $861,000. Two transit grant awards were noted: a $300,000 security-fence-and-lighting project (80/20 match) and a $200,000 fleet-garage drainage and floor improvement (80/20 match). The North Platte sanitary-sewer interceptor (Wolf Creek) repair added about $360,000 in wastewater-related expense. Midyear health-insurance premium increases were budgeted after insurers notified the city in October; employee-only and family plan increases ranged about 6.26%–6.34%. Finally, the city added another $300,000 for fire callback/call-out pay after the initial allocation was depleted.
Faganate summarized the financials as additional spending of about $4,000,247.91, revenue reductions (staff cited about $672,580 mainly tied to the $2 million loan reduction) and a net budget impact of $4,919,671, with details shown in attachments A and B of the presented amendment.
Councilors questioned whether the reservoir loan change had been finalized (staff: SRF indicated the awarded loan amount was reduced and staff matched the budget), sought details on wastewater cost drivers (staff: Wolf Creek interceptor repair and rescheduling of a wastewater master plan), and pressed for clarity on grant and staffing matters. Fire and public-safety leaders explained higher callback costs tied to retirements, FMLA and delays onboarding SAFER-funded positions; staff said testing and hiring were underway and projected an easing of overtime pressures by late FY26 if hires complete training.
The mayor asked whether council was prepared to forward the amendment to a resolution; staff agreed to pursue the clarifications requested and council signaled agreement to move the amendment forward for formal action at a subsequent meeting.
