When the time came Tuesday for public comments on the proposed 2022 City of Sterling budget, all was quiet.

City council members did have a few questions for new City Manager Kevin Blankenship, however.

Blankenship handed out the budget at the Sept. 14 meeting, his first in his new position. Tuesday, he gave a brief summary of the revenue and expenditures budgeted for the general fund, enterprise funds (water, sanitation and sewer), and total expenditures for all funds., which comes to $50,391,564 – a more than $20 million increase over the actual expenditures in 2020. The big increase is largely due to the wastewater treatment improvement project, which will begin work this year and continue through next week. In 2020, expenses for the wastewater division were a little over $3 million; this year they're estimated to total just shy of $14 million, and will be nearly $18 million in 2022.

Mayor Dave Appelhans asked if the 2022 budget includes the first bond payment for the wastewater project; Blankenship said that it does.

The General Fund budget also calls for an increase in spending of about $3.5 million over the estimated expenditures for this year, reflecting a similar increase in revenues from last year to this year. A look at the breakdown in General Fund revenues shows that taxes – the majority of which come from sales tax – increased about $1.4 million from 2020 to 2021. However, the primary reason for the increase in revenue is from $3.5 million in American Rescue Plan funds from the federal government, doled out this year and next.

Council member Mike Anderson expressed concerns about the increased spending and whether the sales tax revenue will continue at the recent levels. He believes that the bump over the last year was brought on by the pandemic forcing people to stay close to home, prompting more local spending, but as things return more to normal, they will once again choose to shop out of town. He asked Blankenship if there are items identified in the budget that could be cut if revenues don't match the projections. Blankenship said that he'll be monitoring the revenue throughout the year and if necessary will work with department heads to make cuts.

The council will take formal action on the budget at their next meeting, on Oct. 12, but did give Blankenship a consensus that it was fine as presented.

In other business, the council approved a change of location for the liquor license for El Jacal. The Mexican restaurant opened this week in its new location at 115 N. 10th Ave., the former home of Blue Collar Steakhouse.

The council also set Oct. 26 as the date of a public hearing on a liquor license application for Logan County Burrito Company, which also opened this week at 624 S. 10th Ave. The council members agreed that a survey of the neighborhood was not necessary prior to the public hearing; anyone wishing to object to the liquor license can do so at the hearing.