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Mayor Sam Hosler, Town of Kearny
By Mayor Sam Hosler, Town of Kearny
The regular meeting of the Kearny Town Council will be Monday, July 18, at 7:30 p.m. But the meeting I want to underscore is the special budget meeting of the Town Council on Thursday, July 28, at 6 p.m.
The special meeting is about our budget for next year. One of the items under consideration is a possible increase in the property tax to benefit the general fund. For the past few years we have dipped deeply into our reserves to cover unanticipated infrastructure expenses, including repairs of water leaks, the water filtration plant, the ultraviolet units at the water treatment plant, and the extra costs associated with our municipal swimming pool. As a result, we had to use our cash reserves to cover the expenses, lowering our reserves substantially below
a safe level.
Our town income has suffered the past few years. Property values have dropped. Last year we raised the property tax slightly to create a balanced budget, but our expenses outstripped the increase. Meanwhile, income from the town sales tax has dropped considerably.
I will tell you right now that we can balance our budget with only a small increase in the property tax, but I will also tell you that our infrastructure is so antiquated that we can anticipate expenses well beyond our balanced budget. In realistic terms, this means our budget is balanced only if we don’t meet unanticipated expenses.
When I lived near the Petrified Forest National Park, a common tourist question there was, “How deep does the buried undiscovered petrified wood go?” The park ranger would sincerely try to hold back a smirk and say, “We don’t know. The depth of the petrified wood deposits is undiscovered.”
Similarly, it is difficult to budget for “unanticipated” expenses. We don’t know what will break, or when, or where. Do you know how one home improvement project leads to the need for another? I wouldn’t be surprised if our fire hydrant replacement project reveals new problems with our water mains. We have had several water main breaks in the past few days alone.
I tell you all this not to alarm you, but to make you aware. Our budget is very tight right now, and it will be for some time. When we receive a grant for a non-infrastructure project, those funds help one arena of community need, but do not help the basic infrastructure needs. The good news is that current projects and anticipated grants for our aging infrastructure will, eventually, start to reap rewards. But these repairs and improvements are costly, and we need to raise the funds to meet these needs.
I urge you to attend our Town Council meetings and help us figure out the best responses we can make. We’re not alone in this. Hayden, Winkelman, and Mammoth have similar situations, different only in their particular figures. Let’s hope that all of us will exercise our love of these Copper Basin towns and make them productive once again.
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