Fort Morgan replaces proposed 15% budget cuts with ‘zero gain’ plans after Cargill agreement

Fort Morgan will replace proposed 15% reductions in its 2027 department budgets with “zero gain” budgets after Teamsters and Cargill reached an agreement ending the labor lockout, city staff told the council Aug. 18. The city defines “zero gain” as holding department budgets at their 2026 levels, according to the Aug. 18 council meeting.

The city has not released department-level 2027 revenue or expenditure totals under the revised plan. Staff also did not specify changes to service levels, staffing, hiring assumptions, utility revenue or spending assumptions. Officials said the electric, gas and sanitation budgets already presented to the council were consistent with the 2026-based approach.

The city reported first-half sales-tax collections of slightly more than $8.7 million, which officials described as on track or slightly ahead of projections. City Manager Brent Nation said he hoped Cargill’s return to operation would prevent a major decline in sales-tax revenue, but officials did not provide a revised Cargill-related revenue estimate.

The revised presentation schedule is set to begin at the council’s next regular meeting, scheduled for Sept. 1. The city plans to present budgets for recreation funds, the golf course and the Senior Center. At the second September meeting, officials plan to present the fire, police, building, streets and municipal court budgets, along with administrative budgets including those for the city attorney, city manager and council. Staff said that group would total 13 presentations.

Water and wastewater budgets are to follow, along with insurance, the capital fund and other funds. The Aug. 18 record did not identify dates for the second September meeting or the later presentations.

The city’s earlier proposal called for pausing unstarted capital projects and freezing hiring while officials assessed the financial effects of the Cargill lockout. Nation said Aug. 4 that the dispute had lasted 75 days without production and could leave a roughly $15 million gap in the city’s nearly $100 million budget, according to the Aug. 4 council meeting. The city has not released a fund-by-fund estimate of that potential shortfall.

The lockout began May 20, when workers arrived for shifts and found the plant closed, The Fort Morgan Times reported. The city’s revised revenue forecast, full 2027 budget and final staffing decisions remain pending. The Aug. 18 meeting did not establish a formal budget adoption date, public hearing schedule or vote.