Third quarter Basalt budget on par with expectations
Lower expenditures on personnel, less revenue from sales tax evens budget
Austin Colbert/The Aspen Times
The town of Basalt heard budget updates from the finance director for Basalt Doug Pattison on Tuesday and were greeted with largely good news: the budget was on track to meet expectations and no departments had overstretched their means.
Within the presentation were a couple of caveats that painted a more complex picture of the budget. According to Pattison, revenues generated from sales tax were forecasted to grow 4% in 2025, but he now thinks it is unlikely that Basalt will hit that figure before the end of the year.
“When we were in 2024, we had budgeted a 4% increase (in sales tax revenue),” he told the councilors on Tuesday. “We’re not going to make that. I just don’t believe we’re going to make that.”
On the flip side, revenues generated by the town for permitting have risen in 2025 beyond forecasted numbers.
“The good news is that our permit numbers for building permits are higher than what we anticipated,” he said.
According to Pattison, permitting revenues are hard to predict each year, as the town doesn’t always have a detailed idea of what builders are looking to achieve in Basalt in a given year.
On top of that, delays in hiring for positions left vacant by departures of key staff over 2025 have left the town with “vacancy savings.” The Town Manager position, which was left vacant after former manager Ryan Mahoney accepted a position at Pitkin County in June, helped the town accrue some savings. Additional vacancies in the Basalt Police Department and Basalt Public Works amount to around $750,000 in savings according to data presented at the meeting.
Overall, Pattison found nothing to be overly worried about in the budget outlooks for 2025.
“There’s nothing running too hot that gives me any concern and even on the (capital expenditures) we’re running under (budget) as well,” he said.
The town’s administrative expenses were higher this year than expected, which can largely be attributed to the unexpected sale of the Aspen Basalt and Mountain Valley mobile homes park purchase that Basalt contributed $600,000 toward.
Also of note, the town’s “miscellaneous” category of revenues rose in 2025, owing largely to increased alcohol sales because of the summer concert series alongside a bus-wrap advertising campaign the town did with Valley View Hospital.
