The Hutchinson City Council started setting some initial fenceposts for its 2021 budget on Tuesday.
"Targeted was an approximate $4 million fund balance for the year ending cash balance," said Hutchinson City Manager Jeff Cantrell. "That allows City staff to frame a little bit better what our service delivery will look like and what some of the staffing ratios will look like as we get there. So far, the trending that we've used on the sales tax numbers has been probably not as bad as anticipated."
More numbers will be coming around June 25th and the City wants to see those before determining if the furloughs and cuts that would come in phase 3 of the city's original plan are needed. If no further action were taken by the City, the ending fund balance would be under $2 million.
"That's not a fund balance area that was desired by the governing body," Cantrell said. "Typically, the targeted amount is $5 million. $5.3 million, I think, is what the City has put into place as far as a comfort level of fund balance."
The idea is that some of the fund balance will be used for the rainy day the City is going through, but there are also likely to be further cuts to keep fund balances at least somewhat healthy, because the City's amount in savings impacts its ability to bond large projects.
"Certainly, in next year's budget, we're going to have to push certain CIP projects," Cantrell said. "One of the items discussed was the fairgrounds fire station. That item would likely be pushed into a future year again. I know that project's been pushed several times. That project comes with a price tag of about $2.8 million."
The City must put together and publish a 2021 budget by August.