Town will furlough employees to balance budget

Drop in tax revenues catches council by surprise

By Matt Brabb
Gazette Correspondent

In a startling move indicating just how deeply the current economic crisis has impacted small communities around the state, the Payson town council voted unanimously to furlough town workers for two days a month in an effort to combat a $2.6 million budget shortfall. Even members of the police and fire departments will not be immune to the furlough.

“There is no other option to deal with the shortfall we’re facing,” stated Mayor Kenny Evans.

Town manager Deborah Galbraith recommended the measure to the council after a special session was held earlier in the day to go over options available to the town to meet its obligations for the Payson general fund budget.

The town will borrow $1 million from the water department to help offset the $2.6 million deficit, but will still need to find another $750,000 in addition to the money saved from the furloughs to pay for this year’s budget. The council scheduled another special meeting for Jan. 13 to work on finding ways to accomplish the additional savings.

“We realize the pain that is caused when we reduce salary or hours,” said Evans. He further acknowledged that “Every dollar of payroll we reduce will have a multiplier effect in the community.”

Still, the drastic drop in sales and income tax in late 2009 took the town by surprise, leaving town officials few options in its effort to keep the town’s budget balanced. The town receives sales tax revenues from the state government, and those revenues turned out to be some $120,000 below expectations. That, coupled with slumping local sales tax revenues, which were nearly $1 million below projections, has resulted in the deficit the council is now grappling with.

“We are doing everything in our power to mitigate the pain; options are so limited that we have to move forward,” said Evans, speaking of the impending furloughs.

Evans, noting the budget chaos that the state government is currently embroiled in, claimed that town leadership is trying to stay ahead of the curve by taking these actions now. He praised town employees, calling them “loyal to a fault.”

In more upbeat news from last Thursday’s council meeting, the creation of the Payson Advisory Youth Council was announced. The seven-member council, including as many as four alternates, was created to give the youth in the community a voice in town affairs. The new youth council has been tasked with a number of duties including surveying local youth about their issues and concerns, providing feedback to the town council, and planning their own activities, including fundraisers and volunteer work.

Members of the inaugural council are Alicia Bayless, Lauren Best, Daniel Conley, Sam Grassel, Payton Pettet, Austin Shannon, and Anthony Smith. Alternate members are Tyler Aguirre and Dillon Walker.

In other business, the council voted to partner with Operation Bass Inc. to become the official host of the FLW Outdoors Fishing tournament to be held this September at Roosevelt Lake. The tournament had a $700,000 economic impact last year, and this year’s event is expected to be even larger. It will be televised on the Versus television network, and as many as five million people are expected to watch on the live weigh in date. Payson, as the host city, is expected to figure prominently in the coverage of the event.