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Gunnison staff present tentative 2024 budget as council prepares public hearing
Summary
City staff presented a tentative budget that leans on utility transfers, modest fee increases and a truth-in-taxation request to shore up depleted reserves; council approved placing the tentative budget for public hearing and signaled further adjustments before final adoption.
Gunnison city staff reviewed a tentative fiscal 2024 budget and told the council they are prepared to put the package to a public hearing and adopt a tentative resolution tonight. The plan relies on a mix of enterprise-fund transfers, limited fee increases and a $75,000 truth-in-taxation property request to avoid drawing down reserves further.
The tentative budget as presented calls for modest household impacts: staff identified a likely combination of a $12 per-month irrigation fee, about $6 in property-tax-related change tied to a truth-in-taxation filing and other development or penalty-fee adjustments that together could raise household bills by roughly $18 per month in recurring charges, with additional one-time pressures from capital projects. Speaker 5 said the $75,000 truth-in-taxation request is intended to hold the current rate and capture ongoing growth rather than a large new tax burden.
Council members and staff repeatedly raised the city’s low reserve position. “Over the last few years, we've used up, I'd have a rough guess, 80% of our reserves by... buying the water,” Speaker 2 said, warning that using reserve balances for recurring operational expenses is unsustainable. Staff responded that transfers from water and sewer enterprise funds are balancing the general fund this year and that planned rate/fee changes aim to rebuild reserves gradually rather than rely on one-time fixes.
Large capital items in the tentative budget include airport runway maintenance (largely state-funded), park and trail projects partially dependent on grant awards, and placeholders for pool and sewer-pond work. Staff said several grant applications and intergovernmental agreements are pending; if grants arrive, they would reduce the city's required match.
The council discussed process and next steps: staff will continue to refine department budgets (police and other departments are still finalizing figures), public presentations will proceed at tonight’s meeting and the council established that the tentative budget will go forward to the formal public hearing. Speaker 1 instructed councilors to approve the tentative budget tonight to allow required public-notification steps and timelines (truth-in-taxation notices must be filed with the county and state by early June).
