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City treasurer pitches FY2026 budget; pension health, DBE investment and community outreach highlighted
Summary
City Treasurer Sims and OMB staff presented the proposed FY2026 treasurer’s office budget to the Finance Committee, emphasizing pension fund performance, a plan to increase retiree medical funding, commitments to MWBE/DBE asset managers and modest increases for community outreach and professional services.
The Wilmington Finance Committee heard the Treasurer’s proposed FY2026 budget and questioned officials about pension funding, retiree benefits and professional services at a budget hearing Wednesday.
OMB fiscal analyst Mr. Jones told the committee the treasurer’s office is requesting $7.3 million in total, with pension funds representing about 93% of that total and the general fund portion at $523,700 (an increase of roughly $55,000). Jones said the increase in the general fund primarily supports personal services adjustments, modest increases in community services funding and travel for training.
City Treasurer Sims framed the office’s priorities as “integrity and compliance, collaborative partnerships, strong governance, and of course, stalwart commitment to community.” On the pensions, Sims said the city’s pension plans were “on target” to meet actuarially determined contributions and that preliminary valuations as of 07/01/2024 show the plans are about 84% funded. Sims reported an estimated unfunded liability — market value basis — of about $286,000,000 and said, assuming a 7.2% discount rate, the plans would reach full funding by fiscal year 2032.
The committee sought clarity on cost-of-living adjustments for retirees. Sims said the pension commission — a 13-member body the treasurer chairs under city code 39-6 — is the mechanism to consider COLAs and that the commission “has not made a recommendation, specific to COLA increases to the administration over the last 10 years.” Sims and council members discussed that the commission meets annually to review pension health, and any recommendation requires a majority vote of commissioners.
Sims and Jones detailed other budget items: a $250,000 increase to the pension health care fund’s actuarial target (bringing that line to $5,250,000 for FY2026); a $1,000,000 professional services appropriation to cover advisory, OCIO and investment management fees; and $25,000 for community services funding to support sponsorships and outreach. Sims highlighted that the administration has worked to increase MWBE/DBE participation in investment management and reported that 63.2% of plan assets (approximately $193 million) are managed by MWBE firms, a 3.5% increase year over year.
Council members asked for further detail on vendor contracts, use of the professional services budget and the timeline and mechanics for delivering pension statements and retiree information. Sims said pension statements for calendar year 2024 were in progress and expected to be delivered by the summer, and that professional services budgets can fluctuate with portfolio size and anticipated activity (for example, bond or debt transactions).
Committee members also asked about the mechanics of retiree medical funding and whether the city has a routine COLA practice; Sims said there is no automatic COLA mechanism in the budget and that decisions about COLAs are handled by the pension commission under the city code. The treasurer told the committee he plans continued engagement with council and the administration on pension issues.
