Town budget in good shape, says accountant

Don Russell, CPA, told the Basin Town Council on May 22 that he is pleased with the budget. The balance of the emergency reserve fund should be around $2 million at the end of the budget year. 

The six enterprise funds are all in the positive for the first time in a long time, according to Russell. 

Russell projects that the town has almost 43% of cash on hand, meaning it could run for four months without any income. 

SEWER PROJECT 

The council also received an update on the sewer project from Town Engineer Jesse Frisbee.  He noted there was a job showing scheduled May 27 followed by a pre-bid meeting May 29. He said the town has funding in place through a loan and grant; however, the estimate from AVI shows the town is short $2 million due to cost increases since the original bid. 

Council member Chuck Hopkin told the council that he had been speaking to a couple of engineers regarding the project. They told him the cost estimate of the project is $2 million higher than it should be. “This sewer system should not be costing this much,” he said.

He included a copy of a new bid and explained it at length. The company said the company could do the project for $1.7 million.  Hopkin asked the rest of the council and Frisbee to read over the bid. 

A lengthy conversation ensued. Hopkin said in 2019, this company bid on the project.  At the end of the discussion, Mayor CJ Duncan explained that a request for bid for this project as it is defined today, has gone out, until this current bidding process. That company must have bid off information that was proposed on specs in the original packet. Hopkin expressed he was just concerned about funding for the project. Duncan suggested Hopkin contact this company and suggest they come to the pre-bid meeting. He also thanked Hopkin for watching out for the best interest of the town. 

In a follow-up interview Frisbee stated that four contractors came to the job showing. There were eight contractors at the pre-bid meeting. In addition to the contractors and Frisbee, representatives from AVI were at the meeting. AVI is the engineering firm the town hired for the sewer project. 

Frisbee said there were not many questions from the contractors. The bid opening will be June 24, 3 p.m. at Basin Town Hall.  

At the meeting Frisbee gave an update on the Third Street project and Fourth Street highway repair. 

 PUBLIC WORKS 

Tony Harrison gave the public works department update. He noted that the Third Street water project was starting to slow down. The crew had to fix four service lines on Holdredge that had been drilled through by TCT. Harrison said the crew did a good job getting the lines fixed in a timely manner. 

The crew will be trenching to place a new date line for the SCADA monitoring system for the raw water. The old line went bad.  Hopkin asked if a repair was attempted on the line before
getting a new one. He was told yes. 

Routine maintenance was done on the sewer lines in the alley from Holdredge to Matteson. 

The crew has also been removing pinecones from the
cemetery and areas are being reseeded with grass seeds. 

Employee Dean Eibert attended a Spring Water Conference and will be receiving a certificate. Employees Roberta Vigil and Bill Everhart attended a three-hour mosquito class in Worland. The foggers were recalibrated for the season. 

Items placed on the Public Surplus Auction site brought in over $10,000. Harrision said work orders have increased since the raw water was turned on. 

OTHER BUSINESS

In other business:

• Building/demolition permits were approved for Liberty Ranch Holdings on West C Street and Burden on South Sixth Street. 

• The first meeting in June was moved to June 16 at 7 p.m. 

• Hopkin reported there has been no movement on the town/school district/rec district use agreement. 

• The proposed Motocross agreement was reviewed. The council voted to send it to the rec district for review. 

• Ordinance 716-Budget 2025-2026 passed second reading. 

• Ordinance 717-Sewer Utility Rate Increase passed second reading. 

• The council discussed the cost of removing some trees in the town. They put $10,000 aside for trimming/removing trees.