Sunbury finance staff present balanced FY26 general fund draft, propose permit fees and staffing changes

Devin, finance director, presented the first introduction of the fiscal year 2026 budget to the Finance Committee on Sept. 17, saying the draft is focused on the general fund and is balanced against expected revenues. The packet shows anticipated general fund revenues "just a little over $8,500,000" and appropriations "just a little bit short of $8,500,000," with remaining capital project adjustments to be refined at subsequent meetings.

Devin said municipal income tax collections are conservatively estimated at $6.2 million for 2026 (staff estimate), noting the city is currently on pace to collect about $6.4 million year-to-date. She highlighted a proposal to add roughly $50,000 to fines/licenses/permits revenue by implementing permit fees currently not collected (fencing, patios and similar permits), based on an intern review that found about 1,100 permit requests processed over 2½ years with roughly 60% having no fee attached. Devin said the city will bring an ordinance to council to implement a fee structure, then use those revenues to hire a permit specialist: "Once we have that in place, we'll begin to collect the revenue and then hire a permit specialist who'll be funded again with the monies associated with that."

On personnel and departmental changes, the FY26 draft includes one new full-time patrol officer for the police department (moving from nine to ten officers), retention of a policy analyst position (vacant on the books), and a part-time administrative support position for mayor's court. Devin cited a comparative staffing review with neighboring jurisdictions (Powell, Delaware, Plain City, Johnstown, New Albany) showing Sunbury lags in officers per square mile and has about 1.8 officers per thousand residents compared with higher ratios in some neighbors; she said staff will analyze officer time and calls for service next year to better understand workload.

Planning and zoning proposals include funding to complete a zoning code update (started this year) and to update the comprehensive plan (last updated in 2016). Devin said funding for open-government software (OpenGov) is included. The mayor and administration category shows a significant increase in contractual services (driven by anticipated engineering and legal fees for major capital projects such as the Little Walnut Creek extension and State Route 37 widening); Devin said some of those upfront costs will be reimbursed by grants or by special-area funds (NCA) later.

Devin and other staff also proposed bringing some engineering inspection work in-house. She said the budget includes funding in the contract services bucket to pay for inspection services for capital projects now, but the plan is to create an in-house engineering inspector position and repurpose existing inspection-fee revenues that the city currently pays to contractors. "The goal here is to establish our own engineering inspector, use those existing inspection fees that we would currently send to a contractor and basically do that in house," Devin said.

Sewer fund items will be handled in the sewer (enterprise) fund. Devin said two existing collection positions will be redefined so one is classified as a plant attendant and there is a proposed Class 2 licensed operator position (assistant plant operator) to meet Ohio EPA staffing requirements; she said employees at Class 1 are working toward Class 2 licensure and the new position carries no net operational staffing increase in the general fund.

Other budget topics discussed included: creating separate reserve funds for inside millage receipts that the city wants to hold until millage reduction decisions are finalized with the county budget commission; funding for council strategic planning and possible minor council salary adjustments tied to PERS credit requirements; continued use of RETA (regional income tax agency) services at a typical administrative fee (estimated at 3% of budgets); and refining mayor's court cost allocation between police and mayor's court budgets.

Committee members recommended an earlier utility-rate study for sewer and water to ensure rates cover large capital projects (Little Walnut Creek interceptors and other upcoming works). Staff said the capital-budgeting process will be presented at future meetings and that transfers and the $1.6 million-odd transfer totals will be populated after the capital spending plan is finalized. No committee vote was taken; staff will return with refined capital numbers, a permit-fee ordinance for council consideration, wage/salary structure adjustments, and further detail on inspection staffing and utility-rate analyses.