CHEYENNE, Wyo. — The Downtown Development Authority (DDA) and Animal Shelter were the focus of the first of this week’s City of Cheyenne budget meetings.
This is the beginning of the second week of budget meetings after the announcement of a proposed 2023 city budget of $59 million. As proposed, the budget is balanced at $59,636,705, up more than $5.7 million over the current fiscal year budget. Last week, after an overview of the budget, meetings took place to discuss the budget for such offices as the Mayor’s office, Treasurer’s Office, City Attorneys Office and more.
The city is hosting daily work sessions through May 13 to review the budget from noon to 1 p.m. in the Municipal Building Council Chambers at 2101 O’Neil Ave. The meetings are livestreamed on the city’s social media pages, through a Zoom link available at www.cheyennecity.org/ecm, and televised on Spectrum channel 192.
This week’s meetings kicked off with discussion about the DDA’s proposed budget. The focus of the department for 2023 is economic development. To achieve this, the authority asked for an increase of $25,000 to its budget, bringing it to $75,000.
The main reason for the increase is to fund three projects the DDA is focusing on. The authority will specifically focus on its art program, although it has several online programs which it hopes to fund as well.
Falling under the Community Service Supports division, the Animal Shelter is asking for a budget of $528,000, an increase of $178,000.
The primary reason behind the increase is a contract with the city for animal sheltering services, officials said. There were also increases in the payroll for several positions in the shelter.
