Committee reviews balanced FY26 general fund, heavy public-safety spending in proposed budget

Lee's Summit Finance & Budget Committee members heard the city manager's proposed fiscal year 2026 general fund and public safety sales tax budgets on April 21, including a balanced general fund that exceeds $100 million and a public safety allocation that represents the largest share of spending.

Mark Dunning, city manager, told the committee the proposed general fund budget is balanced to the dollar and reflects the council's priorities. "In my mind, this is the biggest annual plan slash policy that we, being staff and yourselves, as elected officials, put in place for this community," Dunning said. He framed the budget around the city strategic plan, workforce investments and several large capital and operational projects.

Why it matters: the proposed plan directs a majority of general fund resources toward public safety and infrastructure while advancing multi-year projects and an enterprise resource planning transition. Because the general fund is the city's most flexible revenue source, council decisions here affect staffing, service levels and visible projects in the community.

The committee heard these principal details:

- Scale and composition: Dunning said this is the first time the city's general fund has exceeded $100,000,000 in revenues and expenditures. He reported roughly 55% of the general fund would be dedicated to public safety (about $55–60 million), with general government and public works as the other large buckets.

- Public safety sales tax: The half-cent public safety sales tax (approved April 2022) is now supporting personnel and equipment additions. Budget staff showed the public safety sales tax remains personnel-heavy; roughly 81% of that fund was listed as personnel in staff slides.

- Workforce and compensation: Staff proposed a 4% merit increase for "core general" employees (those not covered by collective bargaining) plus a 2% adjustment to pay ranges to keep market alignment. Dunning described a proposed pay-and-growth study estimated at about $500,000 and said the study would be funded by a fiscal-year-25 budget amendment if council approves.

- Enterprise systems and operations: The budget includes funding for a Workday implementation (the city's ERP system for payroll and HR) and related first-year expenditures in ITS. Staff described this as a major, multi-departmental effort affecting HR, ITS and finance.

- Capital projects and forward funding: Dunning said the Green Street capital project (described at about $44,000,000) will be funded without issuing special-obligation bonds; operational costs for Green Street will be covered in the budget. The city also plans to bring a South police substation (the former Fire Station No. 5) online and budget for its operations. Staff proposed pulling several one-time expansion items from FY25 forward into FY26 through a budget amendment to avoid concentrating too much expense in FY26.

- Expansion requests and one-time items: Staff listed approximately $5.7 million in expansion requests across departments and described selective forward funding for one-time items. Examples staff said could be funded out of FY25 resources include a facilities maintenance worker for the civic campus, a $50,000 GIS study, and equipment items (a $22,000 sign printer; attachments for public works including a mulcher ~ $43,000, broom ~$6,500, chipper ~$15,000, and wheel saw ~$25,000). Staff also flagged $840,000 put into the Green Street operations fund as an initial contribution.

- Emergency medical transport (GEMT) and other citywide items: Rick Gentry, budget manager, explained citywide expenses that had previously been budgeted in finance and are now called out separately. He said the GEMT cost-reporting consultant is budgeted at an estimated $500,000 expense with anticipated recoveries around $1.5 million, though the precise amount will be known late in the audit cycle.

- Public safety staffing and equipment requests: Fire Chief Mike Snyder described needs including bidirectional amplifiers to improve in-building radio coverage at a downtown cave/covered area (estimated $250,000–$350,000 if the city covers full cost) and a Knox secure storage upgrade for apparatus; he also described replacing manual stair chairs on ambulances and continuing efforts to staff communications positions. Police Chief Travis Forbes described a proposed reorganization to add command capacity, dedicate more resources to recruitment and training, and fund virtual-reality training facilities in the planned police renovation.

Committee discussion and reserves: Committee members questioned the level of reserves and the city's reserve policy. Staff said the general fund reserve policy targets no less than 25% and recommends bringing recommendations for balance above 35% back to council. Finance staff reported the most recent fund-balance number as $34,074,038 — approximately the 35% policy trigger — and recommended monitoring the balance through quarterly reviews and possible vacancy analyses to manage uncertainty.

Next steps and calendar: staff said other funds and enterprise budgets would be presented to the committee May 5. The full set of budget materials will be the subject of a council public hearing on May 13 followed by a second reading later in May.

The presentation included detailed department slides and line-item comparisons; staff and council agreed to continue monthly and midyear monitoring and to use vacancy analyses and other tools if revenue trends require adjustments.