The town is expecting money from the state Minerals Severance Tax and the federal Minerals Leasing funds to decline drastically.

According to the town budget distributed to trustees last month, “The General Fund will take a severe hit on two of its main revenue sources. Both the (state) Severance Tax revenue and the federal Mineral Lease revenue will drop substantially in 2010.

“There is an expectation that the production boom is over and these sources of revenue will begin to drop. (We expect) Severance Tax collections will be only 18 percent of this year’s – a decline of 78 percent. Mineral Lease revenues will decline by 50 percent.”

Other local governments who receive money from the funds will also experience declines next year.

The two revenue streams go into the town’s General Fund and support government-type activities like administration, planning, roads, and parks.

The town receipts from federal Mineral Leasing funds is projected to drop from $89,067 this year to $44,533 next year – about a 50-percent decline.

The town’s share of state Severance Tax money will drop from $77,957 this year to $14,032 next year – some 78 percent less.

The towns biggest source of General Fund money comes from its share of the county’s sales tax, projected to be $204,168 next year, down from $212,615 in 2009.

Other important sources of General Fund revenue for the town are franchise fees of $50,847 from DMEA, and $23,293 from SourceGas.

Orchard City will draw $21,350 in interest income from its General Fund certificate of deposit holdings in 2010. That amount is down by more than two thirds since 2006.

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