The Seymour City Council has approved borrowing millions of dollars from the city’s sewer utility fund to help keep the city operating this year.

The council unanimously gave Clerk-Treasurer Fred Lewis permission to use as much as $5 million from the account to pay city expenses until tax money is distributed later this year to the city and other local governments.

The first round of property and income tax revenues are expected to arrive in June and the second round in December.

“This ordinance comes to us about this time every year,” finance committee chairman Lloyd Hudson said during the Jan. 8 council meeting. “We don’t have any money until June, so we have to borrow it from somewhere.”

The loan gives the city access to money, interest-free, to pay its bills. Money can be borrowed for the general fund, the park and recreation fund and the motor vehicle highway fund.

Any money borrowed must be repaid before the end of the year, Hudson said.

Lewis said he isn’t worried about borrowing too much and draining the sewer fund. Although he can borrow up to $5 million, it’s not expected the city will need that much at once.

The city struggles annually to meet its financial obligations while it awaits tax distribution, and borrowing from the sewer utility has become a yearly request.

Mayor Craig Luedeman said he hopes to be able to build up the city’s cash reserves enough so it doesn’t have to continue to borrow from the sewer utility in the future.