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Opelika budgeters warn CIP funding will shrink after FY26 as surplus is spent
Summary
City staff told commissioners the city has used much of its accumulated fund balance to pay for capital projects and ARPA-funded work; unless the commission changes the operating‑vs‑CIP mix or finds new revenue the CIP will shrink sharply in FY27.
City of Opelika finance staff told commissioners at a July 15 FY26 budget workshop that the city has relied on accumulated surplus fund balance for capital projects and is running low on that one‑time resource, meaning the capital improvement program (CIP) will likely shrink unless the commission changes priorities or increases revenue. Bob, the staff presenter, said the city faces a roughly $21 million investment program across FY25–FY26 and has used surplus fund balance to cover CIP without raising operating revenues. “Because we’ve had the luxury of having a lot of excess fund balance … we’ve pretty well used up the surplus, fund balance,” Bob said. That, he cautioned, means “in FY27 your CIP is gonna go down to maybe $1 or $2,000,000 because we’ve used up all the surplus fund balance.”
Why it…
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