The city of Arnold has implemented a hiring freeze in an effort to eliminate deficit spending in the next budget, which would run from Sept. 1, 2023, through Aug. 31, 2024.
City Administrator Bryan Richison said Arnold officials will try not to fill jobs that are vacated following retirements or resignations for the foreseeable future.
“It applies to all full-time positions,” he said. “If a department has a position that becomes open that they believe is crucial, they can ask me to make an exception. I will discuss it with the mayor and (City Council members) to see if it is a job we want to be filled.”
Richison said the hiring freeze is just one step needed to build up Arnold’s reserve funds, adding that city officials may want to consider asking voters for a sales tax next year to generate more revenue.
For this fiscal year, which began Sept. 1 and ends Aug. 31, 2023, the city has about 130 full-time employees, including the Arnold Police force, Richison said.
The city also will employ about 92 part-time workers throughout this fiscal year, he said.
In the current budget, which council members approved in August, the city expects to spend $2,781,885 more than it brings in, according to City Council documents.
According to the budget, Arnold will bring in a projected $23,747,585 and will spend $26,713,970, shrinking the city’s reserve funds from $4,428,188 to an estimated $1,646,303 by the end of the current fiscal year.
“We have been slowly running deficits over the years, and those days are at an end,” Richison said after the budget was passed. “We have to buckle down and make some difficult decisions.”
Richison said the bulk of Arnold’s $18,286,280 operating budget, about 69 percent, is committed to paying the city’s full-time and part-time employees, with the city projected to spend $12,544,072 on employees’ salaries and benefits for the 2022-2023 fiscal year.
As of Nov. 17, Arnold’s only open position was for a police officer, and city officials did not plan to fill that, Richison said.
During a Nov. 10 City Council work session, he presented an early projection of Arnold’s 2023-2024 budget that showed the city bringing in an estimated $17,810,285 and spending $20,057,094.
He also said it looked like the next operating budget would have a projected $16,545,216 in expenditures and $14,760,935 in revenue.
In order to balance that budget, the city would have to eliminate about 25 full-time employees, Richison said.
He said Arnold spends an average of $70,000 to cover a full-time employee’s salary and benefit costs.
Richison also said in order to balance the Arnold Recreation Center’s next budget, which shows $2,440,250 in revenue and $2,986,952 in expenditures, eight full-time positions would need to be eliminated. However, the rec center does not have eight full-time employees.
“(The hiring freeze) is a step to potentially find some open positions that we can cut if we need to,” Richison said. “The bigger plan is not there yet.”
On Nov. 10, Richison said the city could seek a sales tax to fund the Arnold Police as an alternative to eliminating full-time staff positions.
Sales tax proposal
He told the council that Arnold may seek a sales tax, possibly a 1-cent hike, to fund the city’s Police Department.
If a 1-cent sales tax increase were passed, Arnold would collect an estimated $7.2 million and completely cover the $7,198,016 cost to operate the Police Department, freeing up those funds for road and street repairs and improvements, as well as other expenses.
If a 1/2-cent sales tax increase passed, it would bring in a projected $3.6 million to cover a portion of the Arnold Police budget and then transfer the remaining $3,598,016 from its operating fund to cover the rest.
Richison said if voters approved either of the tax increases, the city would be left with a surplus in its operating fund between $5,413,735 and $1,815,719 for the 2023-2024 fiscal year.
“I don’t know if (City Council members) will decide they want to tighten the belt and cut; look at a law enforcement tax; or go in a third or fourth direction,” he said. “It is still very much up in the air. We will discuss the budget again (during the Dec. 8 work session). There could be other ideas. That is the whole point of talking about the budget early.”
The City Council typically holds regular meetings at 7 p.m. on the first and third Thursdays of each month, and work sessions typically are held at 7 p.m. on the second Thursday of the month. Meetings are at City Hall, 2101 Jeffco Blvd.