A public hearing was conducted during the normal Price City Council meeting asking for public comments on the proposed Capital Improvements Budget for 2014-15. Community director Nick Tatton went over each item listed on the budget.
Most of the projects listed on the proposed budget are ongoing costs or payments. These items include class C road improvement bond payments and storm water utility projects. Class C road projects are part of a 10 year bond cycle. Price City has made double payments on this bond so they are able to fund new road projects every five years for better upkeep of the streets within city limits.
A storm water utility fund is also an ongoing line item in the city budget and includes local culvert replacement, vegetation mitigation and other projects. Tennis courts are included in this budget after the initial projected cost was trimmed from over a million dollars to $600,000. The city will set aside $200 from ZAP tax money if the imitative passes in November. This will be either be matched by the Carbon County School District and Carbon County to fully fund and rebuild the six courts or it will be used to rebuild a couple of the courts.
Price City has made the move to lease the newest police vehicles rather than purchase them. They have been able to lease a vehicle specifically built as a police car rather than get one that is modified to be a police car. Leasing will not cost much different than buying outright, but will allow the city to rotate vehicles more quickly, thus saving on maintenance on aging cars.
With no public comments being submitted, Price City approved the budget noting that the projects are still subject to the availability of funds based on tax revenue. Mayor Joe Piccolo stated that it is looking like that revenue will meet projections.
In other business, the council approved a $1,000,000 Economic Vitality Loan to West River Hospitality, Holiday Inn Express. This is a USDA pass through loan that will be repaid to Price City. Once repaid, Price City can re-loan the funds to another entity that qualifies for the purposes of economic development in the area.
Public Works director Gary Sonntag reported that Scofield Reservoir is refilling and is currently at 1,483 acre feet. Currently, the intake of the lake is much higher than the release. The city is still drawing exclusively on water from the spring.
Two Boy Scouts from Troop 907 attended the meeting. Parker and Dax Humes were working on their merit badges and were recognized by the mayor and council.