Sugar City, Idaho: The Dayley Report

  2025 Budget Last council meeting, the city council passed the 2025 budget. This is a summary of the budget. If you'd like to see more details, please stop by city hall and ask to see it. We also heard from the city auditors regarding our finances from the past year, and we got a good report. You can also see a copy of that report at city hall if you wish.  The city runs on public funding, and I think the current budget reflects this understanding--that we have to be wise in what we budget for and how we plan for current and future city needs. Cities have to be careful not to get into the habit of thinking "We need more money," and, instead, be in the habit of thinking "We can make this work." Utility Fees Here are the new fees for water, sewer, and garbage. "Last Year" = 2024 budget; "This Year" = 2025 budget (beginning Oct 1, 2024) Sugar City's First Stoplight? Councilmember Carter Stanford pointed out that the new stoplight on the nor...

  2025 Budget It's the city's annual budget time again. During our last council meeting, we passed the 2025 tentative budget, and we'll have a public hearing on the budget at the beginning of our next meeting on August 22nd. After the hearing, the council will discuss and then vote on the budget. If you'd like to see a copy of the tentative budget, please drop in city hall for a copy. It can be interesting to see all of the budget details. Even for a small city like Sugar, the budget is fairly complex. I've spent a long time looking over the budget proposal submitted by the mayor and his staff. I think it represents a good balance between planning for the future and responsibly using the public's money to maintain the city as we should. One item that caught my attention in this year's budget was the capital fund for roads. The mayor proposed (and I agree with his point) that we need to be saving more money for future road projects. We have relatively decent ...