Fort Morgan reports more than $2 million in Cargill-related revenue losses

Fort Morgan officials reported that the city had lost slightly more than $2 million in Cargill-related revenue through July and could be about $3 million short if the stoppage continued, as the City Council reviewed proposed 2027 budget adjustments Tuesday.

The losses were tied to reduced water and electricity sales to Cargill, officials said during the Sept. 1 City Council meeting. The total did not include August electric-use figures, which the city had not yet received. Officials did not provide separate loss estimates for water and electricity.

The council reviewed proposals that generally held department spending near 2026 levels or allowed only minimal increases. The proposals had not been adopted and did not identify a single citywide cut or service-reduction total.

Economic-development staff proposed shifting some funding toward retail recruitment and possible assistance for companies seeking to attract prospective retailers. The shift would come partly from the business-assistance or facade program, where officials said participation was declining. The meeting did not specify the amount of the proposed reduction or identify a resulting service change.

Other proposed adjustments included:

• Community Services would reduce developmental-promotion spending and redirect roughly a couple thousand dollars toward training and meeting expenses related to additional work for City Manager Brent Nation.
• Recreation would replace one full-time employee receiving full benefits with several seasonal employees, reduce advertising and increase utility and facility-maintenance budgets to reflect actual costs and use.
• Parks would lower salary-and-wage spending after employee departures and a change in the department’s rehiring approach. It also would increase utility spending, including pool-related costs, and remove a safety-committee line item.
• Golf maintenance would use Riverside ditch water instead of pumping well water. Officials said the system worked during the summer but did not provide projected savings.
• The pool budget included employee and benefits adjustments. The city planned to solicit bids for a contractor to provide and operate the concession stand while the city supplied the facility; no outsourcing decision had been approved.
• The Senior Center proposed using part-time positions for staff savings, increasing utility and general-property maintenance budgets to reflect actual spending and eliminating city-managed vending-machine expenses.

The discussion was part of the budget review process, not the final adoption vote. The city’s amended budget calendar set final acceptance of the 2027 budget for Nov. 17, 2026, according to the official July 21 council minutes. The Sept. 1 agenda listed a presentation of 2027 general-fund revenue and expenditures.

The city’s earlier 2027 proposal called for 15% department-budget reductions, a hiring freeze and a pause on unstarted capital projects while officials assessed the financial effects of the Cargill labor stoppage. The council later shifted to a plan generally holding departments at 2026 spending levels.

The final revenue forecast, department-level budget totals, service effects and staffing decisions remained pending as of Sept. 2.