Facing plummeting sales tax revenue and ongoing financial hardship, Moab City has restructured their staff. On Thursday, administrators informed “a number” of current employees that they would be laid off beginning June 4th. However, Moab City has not yet publicly released the amount of jobs or the departments affected. Moab City and Grand County – both reliant on tourism dollars – are scaling back their budgets, focusing on funding their essential services. Plus, a conversation with the Moab Sun News on the hotspot funding committee’s latest ideas to solve transportation congestion across the community.

Show Notes:

City, County Face Tough Budget Decisions –

5/21 Press Release: City Announces Staff Restructuring As Sales Tax Revenues Fall

https://www.kzmu.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/City-Announces-Staff-Reductions-As-Sales-Tax-Revenues-Fall.docx

Moab City Total Numbers for both the March 13th staff changes and the May 21st Reductions in Force/Furloughs:

https://www.kzmu.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Moab-City-Total-Numbers-.pdf

Additional Local Budget Reading:

5/22 Moab Sun News, Council debates how and where to cut

https://www.moabsunnews.com/news/article_14f47ec0-9c57-11ea-a9cd-1304966f29f9.html

5/21 The Times Independent, County to diversify post-virus

https://moabtimes.com/2020/05/21/county-to-diversify-post-virus/

5/15 The Times Independent, City: Nothing left to cut but jobs

https://moabtimes.com/2020/05/15/city-nothing-left-to-cut-but-jobs/

5/12 Moab Sun News, Moab tax revenue plummets

https://www.moabsunnews.com/covid-19/article_36bb8e96-96de-11ea-90f5-e70c4b020b45.html

5/8 The Times-Independent, County could cut budget by 30%

https://moabtimes.com/2020/05/08/county-could-cut-budget-by-30/

Hotspot Funding Committee –

5/22 Moab Sun News, Hotspot funding, round two

https://www.moabsunnews.com/news/article_565a3fe0-9c56-11ea-84c5-ef84a0b157f0.html

Hotspot Committee Info

https://moabcity.org/558/UDOT-Hotspot-Funding-for-Moab-Area

5/27 Hotspot Committee Agenda

https://moabcity.org/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_05272020-939?html=true