City Staff Identifies Calculation Errors, Recommends Technical Amendments That Improve FY26 Position by $1.4 Million

Budget staff told the Finance Committee that a review of the mayor's proposed FY26 budget revealed a series of calculation errors and appraisal adjustments that change the city's projected FY26 position.

Staff said revenue was adjusted downward by approximately $1.4 million, driven largely by changes to motor-vehicle appraisals and an upward correction to elderly tax deductions in the real-estate tax base. To offset the reduction without changing the millage, the office adjusted several revenue lines to trend levels, including investment income (staff increased this line by about $400,000) and supplemental and delinquent-tax estimates; staff also noted a $427,000 increase in town aid for roads that was offset by a matching reduction in parking tax revenue based on parking's projections.

On the expenditure side, staff identified numerous spreadsheet and formula errors and a set of personnel changes: departments had initially submitted full position request forms (the "102 form"), but many positions were later excluded from the mayor's recommended package. Correcting the formulas and removing positions reduced expenditures by roughly $2.8 million, staff said. Staff also confirmed 13 proposed new general-fund positions remain in the recommended budget; two resident-service-coordinator positions were removed from the general fund and will be pursued with grant funding instead.

Taken together, the adjustments produced a roughly $1.4 million favorable swing (expenditures down more than revenues). Staff said they will distribute corrected, readable Excel files for committee review and that the changes will be included as technical corrections in Thursday's deliberations. Committee members asked for the corrected materials as soon as possible so members could prepare amendments and deliberations.