Special Recognition

Office of the Mayor

Honorable Members of the City Council:

After extensive consultation with our city manager, administrative services director and other executive staff, and on behalf of the residents of Riverton City, I am pleased to submit to you the Mayor’s Budget for fiscal year 2021 for your consideration. It is my attempt to propose what I believe to be a conservative budget, with no fee increases to our residents, that accounts for my administrative priorities, while simultaneously emphasizing the completion of the balance of the governing body’s strategic priorities.

Significant progress has been made towards the completion of our strategic priorities, with almost 80% of the 2018‐2022 initiatives now being accomplished. In recent months our city has not been immune to the global economic impacts of the COVID‐19 health pandemic. However, thanks to smart planning during previous years we have been able to mitigate many of those impacts, keep fees low for our resident s, and still maintain healthy fund balances for any other unforeseen circumstances. This year’s Mayor’s Budget attempts to maintain the prudent planning of previous years, strategically allocating our precious resources to deliver the best‐in‐class services our residents rely on while successfully completing the goals set forth by the governing body in our strategic plan.

Here are a few highlights from the budget:

Total budgeted expenditures are $51.6 million, excluding transfers and addition to fund balance. Almost the entire increase from last year’s budget of $44.8 million is a result of one‐time capital projects for water and stormwater that are driven by state and federal directives. This Mayor’s budget is the result of an in‐depth analysis of the needs of each department, working with each department to gain a sufficient understanding of the needs vs the wants, and cutting approximately $5.1 million of requested expenditures. The General Fund is where the bulk of employee and operational costs are kept. Other funds may vary considerably from one year to the next due to capital projects; however, the change in General Fund expenditures year over year is usually a sign of the fiscal discipline of a city. Excluding transfers, this year’s general fund expenditures are proposed at $10.2 million, which is essentially flat from last year’s budgeted general fund expenditures.

Looking back five years, General Fund expenditures have only increased 7.3% from the

budgeted $9.5 million in the 2015‐2016 fiscal year. That is only an average annual increase of approximately 1.5%. A remarkable figure that is even far below the average inflation rate,