The City of Green River hosted its monthly meeting on Thursday via Google Meet due to COVID-19 precautions.
During the meeting, the city budget was discussed and how it has been affected during the current pandemic. “At this point, the budget is not in bad shape at all,” said Green River Mayor Travis Bacon.
It was explained that there are three main sources of revenue, not including grants, that the city receives, including property taxes, resort taxes and state collected sales tax, all of which are still within budget. The numbers are as follows thus far: property taxes ($248,000), resort taxes ($316,000) and state collected sales tax ($236,000). Those numbers reflect revenue collected through the end of February. There remains at least another quarter to report during the current pandemic.
The mayor again reiterated that the budget is in great shape and that the city will be fine financially. He also stated that this current situation has been rough on the town and employees, but the city will be cautious about spending as always.
Other items discussed were the current happenings at the John Wesley Powell Museum. The museum has been closed since March 18 in response to the public health order issued by the Southeast Utah Health Department. Employees have had to cut back some hours but are still completing projects around the museum. A new janitor has also been hired for deep cleaning.
Also at the museum. new social media projects are in the works to be ready for when it is time to reopen. However, an upcoming art exhibit has been cancelled as well as other planned events. The museum is currently creating an estimated revenue loss reports due to COVID-19. It was also discussed that a new director will be hired and will start work in the last week of April.
Another item addressed during the meeting was whether or not to shut off delinquent utility accounts. The mayor stated that now is not the time to be shutting off water; rather, it is a time to be sanitary and clean. The discussion continued to the topic of deferring payments for 60 days, after which accounts will be put onto a payment plan and the account must be current after six months. It was also stated that this is not forgiving money owed, just deferring the payments.
A comment was made by Conae Black that it is very rare that water gets shut off; customers usually can get their accounts current before it reaches that point. A motion was made and approved.