By NIKI TURNER | [email protected]
MEEKER | Meeker town trustees approved a $5,000 donation to support bringing the skijoring event back in 2021. The donation is designated for the prize “purse” for contestants. The first event, held in February 2020, brought in outside contestants as well as local participants and was deemed a rousing success overall.
The board also approved a draft budget for the town for 2021. Planned increases are for health insurance, liability insurance, workman’s compensation, dispatch fees — although they have yet to receive a specific amount from the county for what dispatch fees will be.
Items to be cut are business grants, marketing and economic development, and limiting capital projects. Purchases will be limited to essential items, “which is really what we always do anyway,” said Town Manager Lisa Cook.
The town will have to dip into reserves to balance the 2021 budget. The general fund budget is $2,917,810 and will require $1,030,119 from reserves. The water fund budget is $941,718 and will require $350,418 in reserves. Cook emphasized that reserves are used for systems development, not operations and maintenance.
A public hearing on the budget will be set for Nov. 17.
Meeker Chief of Police Edward Thompson presented a safety plan for the annual elk bugling contest, to be held on Oct. 21. The county and public health have approved the plan. Thompson also discussed a change in uniforms for Meeker police officers.
Cook said the requests for the COVID-19 Relief Funds Business Assistance grants currently total $104,433.
Cook also told the board the town has been asked to attend a work session with the county commissioners on Tuesday, Oct. 13 at 10:30 a.m. to discuss dispatch. That work session is open to the public.
