Council hears long-range financial forecast showing multi‑million dollar annual gap, task force to propose packages

The City Council heard a presentation from consultant Baker Tilly and the city’s finance director on the city’s long‑range financial forecast and the work plan for a fiscal sustainability task force. The forecast uses the adopted 2025–26 budget as a baseline, incorporates conservative assumptions about revenue and inflation and models a mild recession in 2027. It projects an average annual general‑fund gap of roughly $3.2 million and shows the city could fall below its minimum reserves by 2028 without corrective action.

The city manager introduced Steve Toler, director at Baker Tilly, and Sergei Solomonen, the city’s finance director, who walked council through the new model and assumptions. Toler said the forecast is a diagnostic tool tied to the council’s financial policies and reserve targets and that the city now has a dynamic fiscal model staff and the task force can use to run “what‑if” scenarios. He recommended the council…