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By Myrna Trauntvein
TN Correspondent

The county budget revenue for 2022 was expected to be $10,828,374 and the same amount was expected in expenditures and those figures were adopted as the proposed budget for the coming year by the county commission on Monday night.

A budget of $11,103,901 was the year to date amended budget for 2021 in the general fund. The general fund budget for 2021 was $275,527 more than the expected revenue for 2022.

To arrive at a balanced budget, the county needed to amend various funds for the 2021 budget.

“I make the motion that we amend the budget for 2021 as proposed,” said Clinton Painter, county commissioner.

Marvin Kenison, commissioner, made the second and all voted in favor.

Painter then made the motion to adopt the 2022 budget as outlined, Kenison made the second and all voted in favor.

In the State of Utah, budgets must balance and, in order for that to happen, the best guess for a budget at the beginning of a year may not hold up through the year and, thus, will require some adjustments.

The general fund is the largest of the other individual governmental funds, based on the amount of financial activity that takes place in them.

“We need to transfer $312,419 from the capital projects fund to the general fund for 2021,” said John Crippen, county administrator.

Funds that cross certain benchmarks are required to be reported separately and governments may show smaller governmental funds separately if those funds are considered important to the government.

“I want to create another fund, Fund 12, to handle the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds,” said Crippen. “In 2021, those funds amounted to $1,167,081 and we will get the same amount in 2022 because it brought funds to the county for two years.”

Special revenue funds are intended to be used to report specific revenue sources that are limited to being used for a particular purpose.

Fund 10, he said, was the general fund. A budget adjustment of $8,400 was needed to make the fund balance.

The “B” Road fund, Fund 11, had not used all of the money budgeted because of supply chain issues. Therefore, the fund did not require an amendment.

“I remember that we could not purchase the hot mix we needed,” said Kenison.

The Capital Projects Fund, Fund 44, accounts for the construction, rehabilitation and acquisition of capital assets, such as buildings, equipment and roads. Governments are not required to account for all capital expenditures in this fund type and, therefore, it may also appear in the general fund or even special revenue funds.

“This fund does not have to balance to zero at the end of the year,” said Crippen. “We can keep money in this fund.”

The fund is sometimes called a “rainy day fund.”

Counties must balance their budgets even when they face recessions and other unexpected shocks to their revenues. Rainy day funds and other reserves are some of the most important tools they have to preserve the services that people need and especially during economic downturns.

Good management should see that a government makes deposits in good times.

“We had an excess that we were going to put into the capital projects fund,” said Painter. “We will have to reduce that amount.”

That was because there was an operating loss in the general fund.

The special events and fair fund, Fund 45, was there to account for the county fair, concert and demolition derby events revenue and expenditures.

“The derby pays for itself,” said Painter.

The fund did require an adjustment of $102,388.

“The Risk Management Fund,” said Crippen, “is designed to pay the penalties that come from tax refunds, such as the one we had to repay when the railroad appealed a year ago [state assessed property].”

This year, he said, the county had only had to refund $92 in taxes compared with the many thousands of dollars in the past.

The JMBA (Juab Municipal Building Authority) Debt Service Fund, Fund 52, is a fund to account for the repayment of debt. If a government is accumulating resources for the purpose of making debt service payments, it should report them in a debt service fund.

Fund 65 is the Landfill Operating Fund and currently, with the building necessary for the construction of making it a landfill transfer station, it has a budget in 2021 of $1,354,930. Fund 73, is the JRDA (Juab Rural Development Agency) Landfill Trust Fund.

“That fund is up about $50,000 in 2021 over the previous year, but more was spent than came in so a fund adjustment is needed,” said Crippen.

The scales needed to weigh the loads as they enter and leave the landfill were expensive, he said.

The Convention Bureau Fund, Fund 74, was expected to bring in $83,000 and Transient Room Tax (TRT) was a big part of that. However, said Crippen, it was found that one entity, while paying the TRT was paying it to the wrong county. That was being remedied and would bring the money to the proper county.

“The state audit found that some had not even paid their TRT,” said Kenison. “They will be paying now.”

“As a result, we should see an increase in that fund,” said Crippen.

Proposed for the 2022 budget, in addition to the general fund, is a revenue of $2,832,440 in the “B” road fund; $6,789 in the capital projects fund; $329,688 in the Special Events Fair fund $329,688; in the Risk Management Fund, $2,536; JMBA $355,986; Landfill Operating Budget, $981,763; JRDA Landfill Trust Fund, $653,92; Convention Bureau Fund $72,473.