CACHE COUNTY – During their final meeting of the year Tuesday, the members of the Cache County Council approved a nearly $70 million budget for 2021.
“One nice surprise,” according to County Executive Craig Buttars, “is that our sales tax revenues weren’t badly hurt by the coronavirus pandemic.”
Cache County’s revenue from sales taxes were about $6 million in 2019. Prior to the coronavirus outbreak, county budget managers estimated that revenue would rise slightly to $6.3 million in the current year. But the newly adopted budget for 2021 is based on sales tax revenue of $6,892,000.
In spring and early summer, public officials statewide expressed concern about the impact of the pandemic shutdown on retail sales and other forms of commerce. But Buttars attributes the unexpected growth of local sales tax revenues to home-investment expenditures like backyard purchases and remodeling during the early months of the pandemic and increased online shopping by Cache Valley residents during the current holiday season.
“It’s too bad we don’t have the same happy news to report about our usual revenues from tourism,” he adds.
Overall, the county’s adopted budget for 2021 is $69,907,800.
The county council held a public hearing on the proposed 2021 budget at its previous gathering on Dec. 1, but no local residents took advantage of that opportunity to raise questions or offer input.
After directing a few questions to Finance Director Cameron Jensen, council member David L. Erickson praised the proposed budget’s fiscal responsibility and then joined in the council’s unanimous vote of approval
The county council members also approved budgets for three component units of Cache County totaling $7,110,600. Those units were the Roads Special Service District ($123,500), the Logan-Cache Airport Authority ($6,951,000) and the Cache County Community Foundation ($36,100).
Funds earmarked for specific county functions include $15,250,800 for general government expenses, $24,342,900 for public safety, $14,362,500 for streets and public improvements, $5,849,700 for health and welfare and $5,322,100 for culture and recreation.
The adopted Cache County budget will take effect Jan. 1, 2021.