Despite an uncertain year, Greeley managed to balance its books. Here’s how.
By Kelly Ragan
Despite a year filled with financial uncertainty, the City of Greeley managed to balance its books.
In an annual financial report, Greeley Finance Director John Karner discussed how COVID-19 impacted city finances for 2020 and where the city stands today. Things aren’t great, as they aren’t for most, but they’re better than officials projected.
The city brings in revenue from a variety of sources, including taxes from retail sales, property, food, lodging and other sources. It also brings in money from utility rates (think water, sewer and stormwater).
To get the best sense of the economic activity in the area, Karner said, he looks to sales tax figures. Compared to 2019, sales tax in Greeley was down 5.4% in 2020, or about $3.7 million.
“We saw declines across the board except in three areas,” Karner said, referring to sales tax figures.
Revenue raised from dining out, including limited-service restaurants and liquor stores went up 4.7%, building material, garden equipment and supplies were up 6.5%, and online shopping was up 32.2%
But, Karner said, those increases were caused by changes in behavior. Online shopping, for example, went up because people relied more on it.
In 2020, Greeley’s general fund, which includes all those taxes, saw a reduction of about 7.2%, Karner said, totaling about $8.4 million.
Still, despite the revenue loss, the city managed to end the year with a balanced budget.
In the spring and summer of 2020, Karner said, city officials thought they would lose $6 million by year’s end.
“At that time, the city took some quick, difficult but responsible actions,” Karner said.
The city cut spending, including closing facilities and reduced services, including putting staff on furloughs, he said. That saved the city $8.8 million. The city also got $6 million in revenue, mostly from the CARES Act. This means the city finished up $8.3 million.
The city also had $9 million in carryover from 2019. Typically carryover money is divided into various city projects, Karner said, but given the uncertainty the city held onto it last year.
Thus the city’s general fund ended the year with $17.3 million.
Karner said the city took $3.5 million from that fund and allocated it to support the 2021 budget.
“While we are in good standing right now, it was not by accident. It was due to some hard and unplanned decisions last year,” Karner said, and a boost from the federal government that may not come this year.
How did CARES Act dollars help?
According to city documents, Greeley received about $5 million to help with COVID-19 related expenses. So, where did that money go?
55.6% (or $2,751,820) went to public health
20.1% (or $995,828) went to small business assistance
12.4% (or $615,122) went to payroll public health and safety
6.6% (or $328,154) went to unemployment benefits
2.6% (or $130,301) went to PPE
1.9% (or $93,485) went to telework
0.3% (or $13,880) went to COVID-19 testing
0.2% (or $7,874) went to medical
0.1% (or $5,547) went to budget diverted personnel
0.1% (or $5,486) went to distance learning
0.1% (or $4,873) went to food programs
So, where are we today?
Karner said the city is taking a confident yet cautious approach until revenue (especially from sales tax) returns to pre-pandemic levels.