The 2022 fiscal year budget was the main focus during the Riverside City Council’s special meeting Monday night.

City Administrator Christine Yancey says the council reviewed proposed budget numbers which also included a five-year projection report from Northland Securities. She says COVID-19 has made the budget process challenging, “We just don’t know what the revenues are going to be like. So, I tried to be conservative on the revenues and go a little bit higher on the expenses. That way, we’re trying to cover all of the bases, so if there’s anything we run into on a project that was unanticipated we have the expense numbers there to meet that, and then if we go a little bit lower on the revenues and things do all of a sudden pick up, then it’s a (financial) boost for whatever project we’re doing.”

Yancey says given the economic climate during the pandemic, the city is sitting in decent shape heading into the new fiscal year. The council has set the public hearing for the budget for 6 p.m. during the March 1st regular meeting.