Gunter schedules budget workshop as council hears concerns about $484,000 shortfall

The Gunter City Council set a budget workshop for Wednesday at 5:30 p.m., where staff will present line‑by‑line options and discuss the tax rate. City Manager Hayden Rodowski told the council staff will circulate materials in advance so council members can review the numbers before the workshop.

Resident Mark Merrill warned the council that the city is carrying what he described as a roughly $484,000 deficit and questioned how the city could fund infrastructure or improvements under a no‑new‑revenue tax rate. "The no new revenue rate takes in the same amount of money as we took in this year where we were are currently running a $484,000 in the whole budget deficit," Merrill said.

The manager and staff urged council members to review the materials and bring questions to the workshop, where the council will review tax‑rate options and line‑by‑line budget choices. Several council members said they expected detailed numbers to be available before the meeting.