Small towns are adjusting to life amid the coronavirus pandemic.
In the City of Riley, Mayor Tim Sharp says facilities are closed, but government continues to operate.
“We have two full-time employees that work there (at City Hall), they’re both still working, doing their job and they do let people in sometimes, but if we can do it by phone or drop box for utility payments, we sure try to do it that way,” he said.
The Riley City Council, which meets twice a month, last met April 14 via Zoom, taking public comment by email or phone prior to the meeting.
As for the city’s 2020 budget which currently includes $1.3 million in authority for expenditures, Sharp says it’s uncertain how much of an impact they will face. The city has a local sales tax and receives a portion of Riley County’s quarter-cent sales tax.
“I expect both of those to hold pretty steady from what we’ve just been through but going forward there’s going to be some people holding back on larger purchases, so it may shorten us up 10 or 20 percent on taxes coming in,” he said.
Sharp says about half of the city budget comes from property taxes, which he doesn’t believe will take a huge hit. Even so, the city is holding back on any large purchases or projects.
“We wanted to do some things and at the last meeting we chose not to, we’re going to wait and see,” he said.
Sharp says he’s optimistic about an eventual turnaround in those figures. He’s also holding out optimism the city will be able to open its pool for the summer.
“It would be a little bit before we’d open them anyway, so we haven’t decided that we’re going to close for the season, but we haven’t set a date to open it either,” he said.
Manhattan announced earlier this month it would not open it’s pools or any other Parks & Recreation related activities for the summer.
Riley City Council meetings are held the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month at 7 p.m. A request for the Zoom link may be obtained by calling 785-485-2802.
