Riverton's $65.5 million, and the $45.2 million the council cannot spend as it likes

Riverton City adopted its fiscal year 2027 budget on June 2, 2026 1. The adopted budget book projects $65,528,424 in revenue citywide, of which $20,312,100 — 31 per cent — is general fund revenue the council allocates each year 1. The other $45,216,324, or 69 per cent, sits in dedicated and enterprise funds 1. The city's own newsroom post puts the same split in the same terms, describing approximately 69 per cent of revenue as restricted for specific purposes and the remaining 31 per cent as sales taxes, franchise taxes and other unrestricted revenue 2.

That split is the one fact that makes the rest of the budget readable. Water fees pay for water, garbage fees for sanitation, gas tax for streets and impact fees for the growth that generated them, so a dollar in one of those funds is not available for anything else.

The largest of the dedicated blocks is culinary water, at $9,029,000 1. The Riverton Fire Service Area raises $7,645,000 in property tax and $82,000 in other revenue, $7,727,000 in all, plus a $97,500 transfer in from the fire impact fund 1. The Riverton Law Enforcement Service Area raises $7,230,000 in property tax and $85,000 in other revenue, and transfers $8,286,352 to the police operations fund — $971,852 of it drawn from its own fund balance 1. Secondary water accounts for $4,531,500 and sanitation for $2,989,500 1. Class C roads — the state gas tax distribution — brings $3,839,063 1.

Impact fees sit in six separate community impact funds: $910,000 for parks, $625,000 for roads, $650,000 for secondary water, $305,000 for culinary water, $100,000 for fire and $55,000 for stormwater 1. Those six total $2,645,000 1. The redevelopment agency budgets $3,100,000 1. Counted with the funds described above, those blocks come to $41,176,063, or 62.8 per cent of citywide revenue 1. The remainder of the $45,216,324 dedicated total is the police operations fund at $508,000, the capital improvements fund at $2,832,261 and first class roads at $700,000 1.

On the expenditure side the city budgets $70.6 million citywide, against $71.1 million adopted the previous year, while revenue rises from $61.9 million 1. The gap between the two years' revenue and spending is met from fund balances and interfund transfers rather than from new revenue 1.

The general fund is where the discretion is, and it is the tightest part of the document. General fund revenue of $20,312,100 is budgeted against $16,115,443 in operating expenditure and $4,970,205 transferred out, for $21,085,648 against the fund 1. The difference is covered by $773,548 of the fund's opening balance, leaving a projected ending balance of $4,241,356 1.

Sales tax, the largest single general fund source, is budgeted at $13.3 million against $13.2 million the year before — an increase the mayor's budget message describes as slight 1. That money supports capital projects, public safety, city administration, park maintenance and events such as the Fourth of July 1.

The budget does not raise property tax in either service area. The mayor's message states that the budget "does not include a property tax increase for either the Riverton Law Enforcement Service Area or the Riverton Fire Service Area" 1. The two areas' property taxes still raise $14,875,000 between them, which is why they dominate the restricted side of the ledger 1.

Water rates are the exception, and the budget book is explicit about why. The adopted rate structure "includes rate increases to both culinary and secondary water fees," after a culinary and secondary rates study, on the argument that one-time funding from federal and state programmes and reserves has been largely exhausted 1. The city maintains more than 200 miles of culinary line and 182 miles of secondary line, and reports that older cast-iron pipe is reaching the end of its life 1. About $1.8 million is budgeted for water projects including the 3600 W waterline, cast iron replacement from 2300 W to 2700 W and Nichols Lane, with $750,000 in federal funding secured for the 3600 W work 1. More than $1 million more goes to repairing and replacing secondary-system pump houses 1.

Public safety takes the largest share of new general fund money. The budget adds more than $1 million of general fund support to the police department 1, and fire service costs rise 5 per cent, an increase the mayor's message notes does not include ongoing maintenance of the city's three fire stations 1. Debt service is budgeted at $2,366,000, paid by transfer 1.

One figure needs care. The $65.5 million is revenue only. Adding $13,946,301 of interfund transfers and $6,716,601 drawn from fund balances brings total budgeted revenue to $86,191,326, which is the number the city is actually budgeting against 1. Transfers between funds move money the city already holds; they are not new income, and counting them as revenue would double-count the same dollars.

The same warning applies to the restricted share. "Restricted" here describes how the money is committed, not how much cash the city holds: an enterprise fund that takes in $9,029,000 in water fees also spends that money delivering water 1. The discretionary pool remains the general fund's roughly $20 million, and $773,548 of this year's spending against it comes out of the reserve 1.