Finance overhaul and ARPA timeline top FY26 plan; city expects county water debt payoff and will study returning utility billing in-house

City finance staff told the commission the FY26 budget includes funds for a new enterprise financial system and that American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds will be fully expended under the proposed plan. Bob Anathin, the budget administrator, said the installation of a state-of-the-art financial system has begun this week.

Naima Gantt, the director of finance, said staff will not resume in-house utility billing in FY26 because the city currently lacks the technology, personnel and a reliable database to accept county billing data. "We don't have the technology, the personnel, the equipment, the database, trust in the numbers to come over from the county to consume, and resume that service, in house, not in fiscal year 26," Gantt said.

Anathin also told commissioners the city expects to pay off a county water-related debt in August, which will remove a recurring monthly obligation to the water/sewer fund. He said this will relieve a significant monthly burden: "we will no longer have a million [to] a million and a half dollar burden on the water sewer fund each month," as stated in the presentation.

Why it matters: ERP implementation is a major multi-year systems change that will affect finance workflows and audit timelines; ARPA spending and the water-debt payoff affect fund balance and future operating capacity. Gantt said staff are beginning the ERP conversion with internal staff meetings and will use temporary help during the hands-on conversion period.

Next steps: staff will bring more detail on ERP implementation, ARPA drawdowns and the water-debt payoff during upcoming budget and finance presentations. They will also continue planning to bring utility billing back in-house in a future fiscal year once systems and staffing are in place.