Council OKs 2-year budget

Highland has a balanced budget for the next two fiscal years — the first begins July 1 — but escalating Fire Department costs burned into the general fund, leaving little extra cash.

On June 8, the City Council unanimously adopted the two-year budget with Councilman Jesse Chavez absent.

City expenditures for the 2021-22 fiscal year add up to $78,921,000 and for 2022-21, the total is $67,210,000.

The general fund portion of the budget is balanced, with $2,000 left over the first year and $730 the second.

In a May meeting, City Manager Joseph Hughes called those margins “razor thin.”

At that meeting he told the council the Fire Department no longer operates within its revenues, and needed a $767,000 transfer from general fund in 2021-22, and an $830,000 transfer in 2022-23.

Part of that fire fund shortfall is due to a state requirement to fund a battalion chief position at over $300,000 per year, and another part is transfers to the paramedic fund, which also doesn’t bring in enough revenue to cover costs.

Paramedic fund money comes from a property tax that hasn’t changed since 1985 and covers only one-third of that department’s expenditures.

The Police Department budget also is going up. The increase is expected to be $885,995 over the next two years.

Revenues are relatively flat with property and sales taxes expected to have moderate growth for the next two years.

If the imbalance continues, Hughes said, it will limit the city’s ability to maintain current service levels.