Robinson staff warns of tight FY2025-26 budget; fire contract and insurance hikes drive shortfall

City of Robinson staff previewed the city’s proposed fiscal year 2025–26 budget and told the City Council that department requests currently exceed projected revenues by about $248,720 before any salary or merit increases are included.

Staff member Craig, who delivered the briefing, said departments submitted initial budget requests and the city’s revenue projection—still subject to change pending certified tax rolls—shows a modest general-fund revenue increase of about $292,000 over last year. Craig said the current set of department requests totals $10,452,252 and ‘‘right now, before I’ve done anything, the requests are $248,720 over projected revenue.’’

Craig outlined primary cost pressures the council should expect: an escalating fire contract that adds about $109,000 for the coming year; increases in auto-liability insurance and collision coverage that together produce roughly $44,000 in higher annual premiums; a workers’ compensation increase of about $12,500 (with a substantial share attributable to the volunteer fire department); and a roughly $24,000 rise in TMRS retirement costs. Craig also said adding a 3% merit salary increase would cost about $104,047 in base salary plus related payroll taxes and retirement contributions, and that once those benefits are included the gap could approach $350,000.

Staff broke out department-level requests: police department up about $239,000; planning up roughly $35,000; finance up about $35,000; parks about $21,000; community media down about $8,000. Craig said administration appears lower in the request because prior budgets had fire-related costs embedded in administration and building maintenance; those costs were separated out in the current presentation, producing a larger standalone fire budget of just over $1 million (including a contract component Craig estimated at about $912,000).

On revenues, Craig cautioned that new development’s property-tax benefits lag and that major customers expected to add utility demand—he cited a Walmart build-out—will not contribute full revenue in the coming fiscal year. He said Walmart’s eventual full production is expected to be about 620,000 gallons per day, which will increase utility treatment and chemical costs as well as revenue when fully realized.

To support council review, staff will publish budget line items through the ClearGov online tool and invited council members to review and comment; Craig demonstrated features including per-line visibility and a comment box that routes questions to staff. The council set a budget workshop for Aug. 6 at 5:30 p.m. in the council chambers, and staff said a town-hall meeting on the CO issuance will be held the following Monday at 6 p.m. in the junior-high cafetorium. Staff said the council plans to consider the CO amount as an agenda item at the end of the town-hall meeting so a separate special meeting may not be necessary. Members discussed remote participation by phone but noted campus cellular service at the school site may be unreliable.

Craig encouraged departments to pare requests before the July 16 deadline for final submissions. He described the process as likely to require “chopping” lines to bring the budget in balance; the transcript records council members asking procedural questions about ClearGov and meeting logistics but not objecting to staff’s overall timetable.

The presentation contained numeric projections and plan assumptions included in the city’s working draft; staff noted several figures are preliminary and contingent on certified tax-roll data and final departmental submissions.