Andrea Brand, director of Sand Flats Recreation Area, presented the area’s proposed 2026 budget to the Grand County Budget Advisory Board on Sept. 26, 2025, describing routine operating needs and a set of capital projects that would draw on the recreation area’s enterprise fund balance.

Brand told the board the recreation area operates as an enterprise fund and that staff budget conservatively for operations while preserving savings for planned capital work. “We have 5 trucks, 1 ebike, and 3 UTVs,” Brand said when explaining an increase in the vehicles line item; she also said the vehicle account had been increased from $8,000 to $10,000 to keep pace with regular maintenance and tire replacement.

Why it matters: Sand Flats is largely self-funded through user fees and uses a fund balance to pay for infrequent capital needs. Brand said the proposed 2026 operating total is higher than a single year’s anticipated revenues because the budget includes capital draws from that fund balance.

Major budget items and staff explanations

- Overtime, utilities and supplies: Brand described modest increases in overtime and utility cushions. Utilities are shared with co-located departments so Sand Flats budgeted a slight increase as a contingency against potential Rocky Mountain Power rate hikes.

- Digital media and partnership funding: Brand proposed funding for videos and media outreach and described previous partnerships. She said the county had previously paid for several videos and that other entities — including the Moab Office of Tourism and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) — had helped fund or could potentially share costs. The board discussed whether tourism-related entities would consider paying for promotional content if the material is used for marketing.

- Search-and-rescue support: Brand said she had recalculated search-and-rescue reimbursable charges by reviewing 12 months of recent usage; the resulting ask for next year is about $15,000, up from earlier allocations because the county is now capturing an hourly rate for UTV use.

- Toilets and contract services: Brand said the area uses a single-source provider, Zunick Brothers, for pumping portable toilets. The provider has not raised rates in several years; Brand budgeted a cushion to account for a likely fee increase and for any higher processing charges the city might assess.

- Capital improvements and paving grant: Brand described two major capital projects proposed for 2026: a $50,000 program for crack sealing, seal coating and striping for Slickrock and Hell’s Revenge parking and roads, and a $75,000 fencing project to protect dinosaur tracks and cultural resources. The two items total $125,000 in proposed capital work. Brand said the department also has $250,000 set aside as seed money in fund balance for a paving grant application; she said that money is intended as local match or to show local commitment to grantors and would be drawn only if a grant award proceeds and all approvals are obtained.

- Fire crews and emergency reimbursements: Brand confirmed that some costs associated with temporary fire and emergency responses have been submitted for reimbursement where appropriate.

Board and staff questions

Board members asked for clarification about which items were recurring operating expenses and which would draw from fund balance. Brand noted that when budgeted expenditures exceed that year’s fee revenue it is typically because the department is using saved fund-balance dollars for capital work.

Brand also said the campground reservation workload and the timing of visitor patterns can push overtime and that staff attempt to keep overtime budgeted conservatively. The board discussed whether grant-funded engineering work (for example, for a paving project) might occur in late 2025 or shift into early 2026 depending on grant deadlines.

What's next

Brand said capital expenditures that exceed the typical operating budget would be presented for appropriation and would require amendment and approval at the appropriate time. The board did not take formal action on the Sand Flats budget at the meeting; staff will finalize budget materials and the item will return to the board or commission if and when a capital grant award or specific appropriation is required.

Quotes used in context

- Andrea Brand, director, Sand Flats Recreation Area: “We have 5 trucks, 1 ebike, and 3 UTVs.”
- Andrea Brand on the paving seed money: “We put 250,000 in there for the last 2 years saying if we've got the [paving] grant, we have some seed money in there ready to…” (paraphrase in context of fund-balance seed money).

Ending

The Sand Flats presentation was one of multiple department budget briefings at the Sept. 26 meeting. Brand said she would return with any grant-related appropriation requests and that the department would continue to manage operations from user fees supplemented by fund-balance draws for major capital work.