PRESIDIO — The City of Presidio kicked off budget season on Monday with a workshop to set priorities for the next fiscal year. Council members collaborated with department heads and other city officials to discuss big-picture goals ahead of the complex, detail-oriented process of finalizing and adopting the city’s next budget.
Each year, the city must weigh its projected revenues from utilities and taxes against the costs of running the city. Revenues are split between the general fund — which draws from property and sales taxes, among other sources — and the enterprise fund, which draws primarily from the utilities bills residents pay each month.
The challenge — this year and every year — is keeping costs low and needs met for the city’s residents. The city currently takes in around half of its general fund revenue from taxes and around three quarters of its enterprise fund from utility bills and landfill fees — though there are other avenues the city can pursue to take in more money for improvements. “How can we change the makeup of that pie?” asked Mayor John Ferguson.
Road improvements were a major source of concern and discussion at Monday’s meeting — council members complained that the streets were in poor condition and subject to flooding after heavy rains.
City Administrator Pablo Rodriguez said that the solution wasn’t as simple as writing a hefty check for resurfacing around town — the city’s temperature extremes make maintaining roads difficult. In the meantime, the city has been prioritizing building retention ponds to help guide rainwater to where it needs to go.
In addition, he personally felt making investments in heavy equipment for the city would ultimately keep each department running smoothly and help manage some of the city’s infrastructure issues. “We have some great mechanics out there keeping them working, but that’s also on our wishlist,” he said.
Another long-term goal was growing tourism in the area — not just to boost local businesses, but to potentially increase sales tax revenue. Because many Presidio residents are low-income — and thus put a significant portion of their budgets into paying sales tax — drawing more tourists into town would help drive up revenue.
Rodriguez said that trying to attract visitors would ultimately benefit everyone. “The business owners would get some revenue there, the community would benefit because of the sales tax,” he said. “It’s one of those things that would snowball.”
Monday’s discussion didn’t set anything in stone — instead, it’s a starting point for the city’s finance department to create the first draft of their budget. The department will present a draft of the budget to City Council at an upcoming meeting on July 18, and a month later will hold an official hearing. On August 21, the city will vote on whether to adopt the proposed budget.
Rodriguez wants Presidians to know that they are welcome to ask questions and participate in the budget-making process. “We’re trying to be conscientious of how we spend every single dollar,” he said. “Any citizen that wants to come in and discuss this with us, we’ll be more than open.”