Commissioners spent a lengthy portion of the budget workshop pressing staff to accelerate repairs and maintenance of roads, rights-of-way and city stormwater infrastructure. Several elected officials told staff the visible condition of the city's streets, dune walkovers and drainage is a top priority and asked whether the proposed staffing and funding levels are sufficient.

Commissioner Cooley and others raised concerns the city's streets and stormwater work is understaffed and that the proposed budget adds only a small number of positions relative to demand. City Manager Dale Martin said the proposed budget increases city staff from 76 to about 112 positions over two years and that some hires are phased and allocated across funds. Martin and Facilities Director Jennifer (Jen) said additional equipment and a modest number of additional field staff would materially increase the department's capacity.

On stormwater specifically, commissioners reviewed a city-commissioned stormwater analysis that listed roughly $43 million in potential projects. Staff noted those large capital projects cannot be fully covered by modest fee increases; commissioners discussed prioritizing small, high-impact maintenance and using alternative funding sources (infrastructure surtax receipts or developer contributions) if available. The commission asked staff to prepare a plan that identifies: which maintenance items can be completed with current budgeted funds, whether a new dedicated stormwater position (and related equipment) could be funded from the stormwater enterprise fee, and how one-time receipts (for example, a possible near-term developer payment) might be applied to stormwater capital projects.

There was no formal vote to raise stormwater rates at the meeting; the sanitation and stormwater fees were discussed under a 2008 ordinance that requires a formulaic sanitary fee adjustment of 2.25%. Several commissioners instructed staff to present options for reallocating or reprioritizing hires and capital projects before final budget action.