As the Town Council moves forward in its process to approve a final budget for its 2020/2021 fiscal year, staff is reporting the watchword for the plan is “contingency.”

Staff presented its budget plan to the council via a remote workshop on April 14. Finance Director David Pock noted that $1.7 million has been included in the budget plan to provide spending authority as a cushion against the uncertainty of the coronavirus economy.

“We have put together a budget with a lot of flexibility,” Pock said.

Since towns are on a statutory schedule to produce a budget plan for the year that begins on July 1, the full effects of the pandemic may not be clear by the time the budget must be approved. The council will consider the final budget in June, with the tentative approval on the agenda for Tuesday, May 5.

While staff has produced a conservative budget plan based on the potential impacts of the coronavirus the unassigned contingency fund will allow staff to consider additional expenditures if funding is available down the road.

Pock said he will provide quarterly updates to the council in a formal manner beginning in October, after the end of the first quarter, to keep them up to date on revenue figures as they become available. He added that he would provide monthly updates via memo at the council’s request.

Staff does not anticipate the virus will impact the budget for the remainder of the current fiscal year. Pock said current revenue has been on a pace ahead of the planned expenditures. He also expects something of a spike for the month of March when buying increased with public anticipation of possible quarantine conditions.

Councilman David Spelich noted that he has had discussions with local retail managers who indicated that the buying spree spiked sales as much as 30 percent.

Town Manager Grady Miller said staff researched the impact of the Great Recession on town revenues and noted that there was a 30-percent reduction in sales tax revenues during a two-year period.

“We feel comfortable that this situation will not be that severe,” Miller said. “We have always tried to be good stewards for taxpayers by not spending all that was budgeted.”

Miller said staff will be closely monitoring revenues against expenditures, as has always been the practice. The council will continue to have the final say on larger projects before going forward.

The proposed budget includes $5.4 million for about 18 capital improvement projects. Miller asked the council for its input on prioritizing just four of those projects totaling about $2.8. Those include $2 million for the Panorama Drive drainage replacement, continuation of work on Golden Eagle Park drainage ($500,000), the Avenue of the Fountains roundabout ($300,000) and the upgrades to the Fountain lighting ($150,000). Some of those projects were previously approved and others already have money invested in them.

Council members all agreed to Miller’s proposal. He added that there would be no additional commitments until the end of the first quarter.

Staff is proposing an operating fund budget of $19,239,000 for the upcoming fiscal year. Without the $1.7 million contingency the new budget is about $200,000 greater that the current year.