As the deadline approached for the Town of Edgewood to submit its interim budget to the state, the town commission met last week for its third budget workshop.
The interim budget was due June 1 and a finalized version must be submitted in July.
“This is just an interim. I like to give it to the analyst early, just in case they catch something that they want to reject, because we do not have any leeway with the deadline,” Finance Manager Trina Page said.
The town anticipates the revenues in fiscal year 2026 will be around $8 million.
“So for planning for the budget itself, we’re going to go off the $8 million figure and … if we get more than that next year, then, hey, good for us,” Mayor Ken Brennan said.
The interim budget also includes about $1.6 million that can be allocated for capital projects in fiscal year 2026.
Page highlighted challenges the town has had in the past. For example, she said no one was submitting reimbursements for grants. Page said that changed earlier this year.
“Now that we have a grant coordinator, I anticipate more revenue coming in from the grants, so that the town of Edgewood is not paying for these projects,” she said.
Additionally, Page said fiscal year 2025 is a catchup year for the Town of Edgewood. She explained that Edgewood was not only paying for this fiscal year, but also half of last fiscal year because the finance department was behind and still getting bills from previous years.
Some of the Edgewood employees have encountered challenges with their taxes and Finance Specialist Victoria Archuleta said she was contacted by a former town employee on Wednesday who informed her that W2s and W3s may not have been submitted to the Internal Revenue Service in previous years.
This was also mentioned by Police Chief Aaron Frost during the Town Commission meeting Tuesday. He was one of the employees impacted.
“So we are getting in contact with a tax accountant to look into this,” Archuleta said.