Town of Lovell trims budget for second straight year

For the second year in a row, the Lovell Town Council has approved a budget that is down from the previous fiscal year.

The council on June 25 approved on third reading Ordinance 1022, establishing the annual appropriation – budget – for the fiscal year that began July 1, 2025, and runs through June 30, 2026. The budget for the new fiscal year is $4,347,804, down from $4,711,855 for 2024-25 and from $4,851,011 in 2023-24.

On the revenue side of the budget, the town is budgeting $2,423,020 for the General Fund, down from $2,475,087 a year ago. Actual revenue came in at $2,656, 486, but budget planning has been cautious. For instance, the town saw property tax revenue come in at $179,830, $29,830 more that the budgeted $150,000. However, with the property tax reform passed by the Wyoming Legislature earlier this year, the town is budgeting $132,000 for property tax revenue, and even that figure is simply an estimate, town clerk/treasurer Colleen Tippetts said.

“On the revenue side of things with property tax (reform) and the cuts, we are not sure on that (revenue), so we did decrease that one because we’re not sure, and we’re playing it conservative,” Tippetts said. “I went real conservative, and I talked to the county about it, and I hopefully am conservative enough.”

The budget is conservative in its estimates across various revenue accounts. The town budgeted $555,900 in state sales tax revenue, and while actual revenue was $640,524 in the last fiscal year, the new budget projects only a $1,000 increase in revenue -- $556,000. Likewise, the town a year ago budgeted $480,800 for county option sales tax and received $550,975 but this year budgeted $480,000.

The budget is down for both severance tax and mineral royalties, cutting the former by $10,000 and the latter by $15,000. However, the budget increases the state supplemental funding distribution to $470,000, up from $435,000. Gasoline tax revenue is budgeted at $127,000 compared to $67,000 a year ago as estimated by the Wyoming Association of Municipalities. Most other areas are flat, though the new budget increases interest revenue by $30,000 to $160,000.

Budget breakdown

On the expenditure side of the General Fund budget, the town has budgeted $2,419,560, down slightly from $2,475,087 a year ago. Salaries are up about $3,000 to $222,822 from $219,281 in the prior budget, but health insurance is down at $43,315 from $58,189 a year ago, as is retirement by around $2,000. Tippetts said health insurance is down largely because some employees moved from family coverage to the employee and spouse only coverage with children “aging out.”

The administration budget is $519,488, down from $570,887 in fiscal year 2024-25 and actual expenditures of $539,781. Besides salaries, several other line items have been trimmed to make up the $50,000 in savings, which Tippetts said was part of the plan this year with department heads asked to trim their requests to balance the budget. Economic development, for instance, has been halved to $5,000 from last year’s $10,000, though area promotion and development remains steady at $14,000. The budget includes transferring $35,000 to capital improvements for the Foster Gulch Golf Course and $350 transferred for Veterans Park flags.

The Police and Fire budget is set at $1,344,062, up from $1,214,718 and actual expenditures of $1,212,049. Salaries are up from $606,134 to $685,694 in the new budget, and likewise, retirement has grown from $109,693 to $135,634. The computer software and maintenance line item has increased by $23,000 to $68,000, and while the training and travel budget has fallen by $5,000, the vehicle maintenance and service line item is up by more than $5,000 to $15,000.

Equipment purchase includes $20,000 for a new computer server and $5,500 to transfer to an upgraded RIMS computer aided dispatch program. The animal control budget reflects a $2,000 donation to the animal shelter.

The Streets and Alleys budget has been trimmed to $189,875 from the previous budget of $211,307 and actual spending of $213,811. The budget includes a crack/chip seal project of $15,000, down from $30,000 for street repair a year ago. The line item for equipment purchase is zero after being $14,000 in ’24-25, but there is $1,500 under maintenance and service for a loader replacement program, which Tippetts said allows the town to dedicate money to purchase a new loader every few years.

The Mosquito Control budget is up slightly to $20,058 compared to $19,763 a year ago and actual spending of $9,134. Most line items are similar to last year.

The Parks and Recreation budget is down considerably to $313,824 from $402,229 a year ago and actual expenditures of $379,971. Salaries are down by $9,000 to $145,000, and there is no equipment purchase money in the budget, saving $75,000. The maintenance budget includes Main Street hanging baskets, lights for Mural Park and sun sails.

Finally, the community center budget has fallen by nearly $24,000 to $32,254, down from $56,183 in ’24-25 and spending of $54,802. The major difference is the equipment purchase line item falling to $1,000 from $21,000 last year.

The budgets for other town departments are as follows:

• Capital Improvements Fund -- $55,350, down from $60,450 and $40,288 in spending. The difference is $35,000 for the Foster Gulch Golf Course compared to $40,000 in the previous budget when a new deck was being constructed.

• Construction Fund -- $153,779, down from $394,092 a year ago and expenditures of $308,401. All of the savings is due to the Phase 2 of the Constitution Park Project wrapping up.

• Lodging Tax Fund -- $26,650, up $2,050 from ’24-25’s $24,600 and spending of $22,404. The budget includes $6,650 in cash carryover funds.

• Garbage Fund -- $450,285, down from $488,151 in last year’s budget and spending of $445,193. The budget includes $18,000 for black garbage receptacles in the equipment purchase line item, which is down from $71,772 last year. 

• Sewer Fund -- $427,271, down from $466,441 one year ago with $427,273 in actual expenditures. The main difference is zero spending for equipment purchases, down from $54,372 in the previous budget. The debt service fund for the payoff on the bonds for the water and sewer infrastructure project remains steady at $250,000, and the budget includes $1,500 toward the loader replacement program and $4,000 for land drain maintenance.

Water Fund -- $814,909, up slightly from last year’s budget of $803,034 with spending in the amount of $796,628. The budget includes around $22,000 in additional salaries and related expenses, but most other line items are flat, other than equipment purchase, which is $16,000 for a valve turner and a dump truck, with that $16,000 line item well under the $63,772 amount budgeted for 2024-25. The budget includes $1,500 toward the loader replacement program and $250,000 for the debt service fund.