Crestview council reviews draft budget; staff seeks consensus on paid-leave pilot and staffing additions

Crestview City Council convened a workshop in which staff presented a draft fiscal-year budget and sought council guidance on several policy and personnel items, including a proposed pilot paid-leave program, police staffing additions, and capital projects for parks and downtown.

The draft budget shown to councilors includes a marked increase in total reported revenue driven largely by planned State Revolving Fund (SRF) proceeds and bond proceeds earmarked for major utility infrastructure projects. Wendy, finance staff, said, "the additional revenue sources are SRF proceeds and bond proceeds," and clarified that those funds are recorded in the budget to show funding for projects even though the city has not yet drawn the money down.

Council members received a page‑by‑page review of draft line items and raised questions about several large percentage changes. The memo accompanying the presentation and staff remarks emphasized that the document is a draft: staff identified a likely coding error on workers' compensation estimates and said they would correct it before the final budget is released.

Key items discussed

Police staffing: Council members noted seven positions shown as additions in the draft budget, primarily in the police department. Staff said not all listed vacancies represent brand‑new roles; some are reclassifications. The police chief (not named in the transcript) described the department's recruitment and training timeline,…