Vernal City Council officially approved the Fiscal Year 2021 budget during the Wednesday City Council meeting. The Fiscal Year 2021 budget starts July 1st and has an annual general fund of $9,879,975 dollars, a cut of nearly $700,000 dollars from the Fiscal Year 2020 budget. Many hours went into creating the budget. “The budget process included three public work sessions, two public hearings and many internal meetings with city departments,” explains City Manager Quinn Bennion. “The budget was especially challenging this year with the sluggish local economy, COVID 19 impacts to local businesses and the drop in oil and gas industry activity. Sales taxes, which comprises 70% of the city’s budget, has decreased significantly the past several months due to business closures and decreases in customer demands,” continues Bennion. “The city’s general fund budget was approved with use of $878,725 dollars in fund balance (reserves) to balance the budget. This year’s budget could only be balanced in a responsible manner through a reduction in staff.” Moving forward, Vernal City is offering an incentive for employees to leave voluntarily through the Council approved voluntary separation program. “Once the employee count is reduced, a budget reopener process will reduce the budget further and lessen reliance on reserves,” explains Bennion. “With the reduction in staff count, City services will be impacted slightly. The City will keep the critical and essential services at current levels.”
