Virgin — The Virgin Town Council met in a work session May 14 to review the proposed fiscal-year 2025 budget and asked staff to prepare an updated package for the public hearing and a follow-up budget meeting.

Council members and staff said the draft shows only a small increase in recurring revenue — about $64,000 — once one‑time loan proceeds and some grants are excluded. At the same time, payroll and other base expenses are rising, producing a tighter operating picture than in previous years.

Why it matters: Resort‑area taxes (transient lodging/“resort” tax) account for a large share of the town’s revenue. Councilors stressed that growth in permanent housing or large subdivisions can alter the town’s classification and reduce or eliminate the resort tax, creating a trade‑off between new housing and the sales-type revenues that support infrastructure and operations.

Most important facts

- Draft recurring revenue (excluding one‑time loan proceeds and some grants) was shown as about $64,000 higher than current-year receipts; staff and council described that as a conservative estimate and said recent business openings — including a small hotel/“The Riv,” a KOA campground and at least one new gas station — are likely to add receipts that are not yet reflected in the posted numbers.

- Payroll is a major driver of the draft increase; staff described roughly $167,000 in total payroll increases embedded in the proposed budget. The draft includes raises that would take effect July 1 and conversions of part‑time roles to full time in several cases.

- Grants and loan proceeds remain only partially coded in the posted draft. Councilors asked staff to reconcile handwritten budget notes from a March meeting with the formal spreadsheet and said the office will post an updated budget before the upcoming public hearing.

Grants and one‑time money

Council members emphasized that several grants and loans must be tracked carefully and reflected in the budget before the hearing. Staff reported a recently awarded BMX‑track grant (discussed later in the meeting) and a loan tied to a groundwater protection study; both will affect capital and operating lines when staff posts the corrected numbers.

Next steps and deadlines

- Staff agreed to deliver an updated draft to councilors and to post corrected materials for the public hearing. At the meeting staff said they would scan their notes and request the accounting vendor make the corrections, aiming to have a revised packet available by the next council meeting.

- Council scheduled a follow‑up budget session for June 3 (afternoon) to finalize capital‑improvement priorities and to prepare for the formal public hearing.

Context and background

Councilors spent much of the session discussing how to balance long‑term infrastructure needs and the town’s revenue mix. They repeatedly returned to the resort‑tax issue: if the ratio of permanent residences to transient lodging shifts enough, the town could lose resort‑tax classification and the revenue it supplies. Several councilors said future councils and town managers should keep that risk in mind when reviewing zoning, subdivision approvals and housing projects.

Ending

Councilors directed staff to reconcile the draft spreadsheet, identify where grant and loan codes should be recorded, and return with corrected financial statements for the next meeting so the public hearing packet reflects accurate totals.