City Budget Manager Jen Vance told the Colorado Springs City Council on Tuesday that updated sales tax collections and other revenue projections leave the General Fund roughly $11.5 million short of the 2025 budget and that city departments have been asked to identify expenditure savings to preserve reserves and service levels.

Vance walked the council through the General Fund revenue mix and described how sales and use tax makes up the largest share of General Fund revenue (59.7 percent in the 2025 budget). She said collections through April show a weaker sales‑tax trend; current 2025 projections were about $9.2 million below budget for sales tax specifically and, with other revenue items, yield an estimated $11.5 million revenue shortfall for 2025.

“To maintain our General Fund reserves we have calculated and communicated expenditure savings targets to departments to achieve $11.5 million in expenditure savings for 2025,” Vance said. “Targets were allocated by department share of the budget but were discounted for police, fire and IT because of service‑level and contractual limits.”

The administration asked departments to find approximately 3.6 percent in savings across most departments, with lower targets of about 2.6 percent for police, fire and IT because those areas are difficult to cut without affecting core services, Vance said. The city’s General Fund reserve level remains near best‑practice guidance: about 17.1 percent of 2025 expenditures, or roughly $74.8 million.

Council members pressed staff for specifics. Several members emphasized public safety priorities and the staffing situation at the 9‑1‑1 call center. Chief of Staff Jamie McConnell said the Emergency Communications Center is about 29 positions short of target staffing and that the city is debating whether pay adjustments are needed to recruit and retain call takers for a high‑stress job.

Council members also discussed one‑time versus ongoing funding. Vance reminded the council that the 2025 budget included nearly $9 million in one‑time items (ARPA interest, rebudgeted savings carried forward and use of reserves) that will not be available in 2026 and that budgets will need to be developed with that constraint.

The council set out a schedule of dates for the 2026 budget work program: a July 8 lunch update, an Aug. 7 council‑mayor retreat with a 2024 year‑end review and a 2026 outlook, staff work through September, mayor’s proposed budget on Oct. 6, and October–November reviews, hearings and ordinance readings. Vance said the city hopes to have several additional months of collection data before finalizing 2026 projections.

Council members said they understood the pressure and that the public should be notified that difficult tradeoffs lie ahead. Several members urged the administration to explore revenue diversification while others emphasized that budgeting in a sales‑tax‑reliant city requires deliberate prioritization of services.

No final budget decisions were made at the briefing; administration staff will return with more detailed numbers and recommended options as the process advances.