Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Sun Valley approves $8 million budget

Spending plan increases 6 percent


By TREVOR SCHUBERT
Express Staff Writer

The city of Sun Valley approved an $8 million proposed budget for fiscal year 2007-2008 on Thursday, Aug. 16.

The $8,057,363 budget allocates $4.3 million to the general expenses, nearly $600,000 to fixed asset replacement, $900,000 for debt services, $800,000 for land acquisition, nearly $700,000 for capitol improvements, $650,000 for the Street Department, and $66,000 for workforce housing.

Salaries in the legislative ledger went up slightly, mainly due to a raise for the mayor beginning Jan. 1, 2008, as did funding for community grants to the YMCA, Blaine Ketchum Housing Authority and Ketchum Area Rapid Transit. Legislative expenditures, however, show a 20 percent decline from fiscal year 2006-2007 due to a shift of legal fees from the legislative account to administration. Legal fees in 2006-2007 totaled $277,000 plus change. The Administrative Department was allocated 34 percent more for fiscal year 2007-2008, totaling roughly $987,000.

The Sun Valley Police Department is slated to receive 18.6 percent more this year. This increase is mainly due to the potential addition of another officer—increasing wages, salaries, health insurance and retirement. The Police Department expenditures is expected to be around $1,021,600. The Fire Department received a 2.7 percent increase in budgeted expenditures. This is in addition to an 11 percent increase received last fiscal year, bringing the total budgeted expenditures for the Fire Department to $368,632.

The Workforce Housing Fund took a big hit from last year following a court ruling that effectively ended the city's workforce housing linkage ordinance. Last year, the fund held $411,363 and this year the fund has been reduced to $66,375—an 84 percent decrease. The money was being collected from builders of new development projects to fund affordable housing in the city.




 Local Weather 
Search archives:


Copyright © 2024 Express Publishing Inc.   Terms of Use   Privacy Policy
All Rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of Express Publishing Inc. is prohibited. 

The Idaho Mountain Express is distributed free to residents and guests throughout the Sun Valley, Idaho resort area community. Subscribers to the Idaho Mountain Express will read these stories and others in this week's issue.