Durango’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2022 looks different from previous years, mainly because its $172 million total in projected expenditures is a whopping $49 million more than the previous year.
Adopted expenditures for 2021 were about $123 million, with actual expenditures still being tallied.
Compared with actual numbers from 2020, the 2022 proposed budget is $64 million more.
Most of the increase stems from an injection of federal money and surpluses from previous years the city will receive to pay for capital projects. Durango plans to spend $24 million more in federal funds for capital projects than it did in 2021. The total amount proposed for capital fund projects in 2022 is around $50 million.
“The majority of this is capital projects, so there’s not really funding that we’re getting that we’re necessitating on needing every year,” said Durango City Manager José Madrigal. “There are projects that are being done that are driving our expenditures up.”
The city has 61 different capital projects planned for the next year.
Projects with the highest price tags belong to the Durango-La Plata County Airport, at $22 million. The big project happening at the airport is a runway replacement. Through the Federal Aviation Administration the airport will be receiving $17 million.
The other big capital projects on the horizon have to do with the city’s water fund, Madrigal said.
“The public, and even council, have made comments about us spending down our fund balance on the water fund,” Madrigal said.
Water fund projects include construction of a 7 million gallon water tank, water line replacements throughout the city and a sludge management project. Those water projects, among others, will be paid for using money from the city’s fund balance.
At the end of the year if the city’s revenues exceed its expenditures, or the city has other savings, that money goes into the fund balance.
“When we appropriate funds out of that fund balance, it’s going to show as an expenditure, because we’re spending more money, but it’s actually money we already have,” Madrigal said.
An unexpected increase in sales tax revenue also allowed the city to budget higher in 2022.
Another $1.5 million dollars comes from an increase in the city’s lodgers tax, and around $1.5 million is coming into the city next year through the American Rescue Plan, which the city plans to spend on housing innovation.
“We understand that these are kind of one-time funds, and we’re going to make the best of them,” Madrigal said.
Durango is in the midst of its budget approval process. On Nov. 9, the city will have a special meeting with council to make any necessary changes to the budget before the first reading of the budget Nov. 16.
The budget can be found in hard copy at Durango City Hall and Durango Public Library.
Durango launched its proposed budget for 2022 alongside the financial transparency tool OpenGov, which allows residents to view city finances in real time.
njohnson@durangoherald.com
