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Commission reviews $2.88 million FY26 budget; financial procedures updated to add finance assistant role
Summary
The commission reviewed a proposed FY26 budget of roughly $2.877 million (large portion pass-through contract work), an increase in contracted services driven by program activity, and proposed financial procedure updates to incorporate a finance assistant and clarify internal controls.
Devin Neary and Mary Kate Gazzer reviewed the FY26 budget and updated financial procedures on June 9.
Neary summarized the FY26 budget as the largest to date, driven largely by pass-through contracted services: "So, I mean, 2,877,000.000 is our biggest budget yet. A lot of that is a pass through," he said. Staff noted contracted services increased by roughly $450,000 year over year to reflect planned project work, including multi-year grants such as Work6 and clean-water service-provider agreements. The budget includes the commission operating staff of 11 full-time employees, two part-time employees and three interns and assumes no fund-balance reserve draw for FY26.
Gazzer explained a $22,000 increase to Department of Environmental Conservation revenues tied to updated partner commitments for a South Lake Champlain clean-water service provider project; she confirmed the revenue increase is offset by a corresponding $22,000 increase to contracted services and therefore is net neutral. She also said the commission conservatively omitted uncertain revenues (for example, FEMA’s EMPG grant) from the FY26 revenue forecast.
On financial procedures, staff proposed incorporating the finance assistant into internal-control processes and delegating select tasks (for example, limited journal entries and invoice processing) to the assistant once the procedures are updated and approved. Commissioners asked whether the board need approve the assistant’s duties; staff clarified that changes to formal financial procedures typically come before the board. Staff said they will wait to incorporate the finance assistant’s feedback into a revised procedures draft if that feedback is provided before the packet is finalized.
No final budget adoption vote was recorded in the June 9 session; staff said they will present a revised budget in Q2 of the fiscal year if necessary after federal and state funding clarifications.
