Town says joint departments need a fix for the budget gap

The Town Council will ask Teton County to start a broader conversation about how joint departments are funded, after staff said annual expenditures now exceed annual revenues and spending growth is outrunning revenue growth. The staff report says those shared departments are a major part of the Town budget, and that a sustainable path forward means rethinking how the two governments pay for them Town Proposal to Teton County for Discussion of Future Joint Efforts Staff Report.

That fits the bigger budget picture the Town and County have been describing this year: joint services are one of the main pressure points in a widening gap, even as Town revenues are projected to keep rising. The question for both sides is whether they can keep the current funding structure in place without cutting services elsewhere or finding new money.