Finance Director Debbie Pack and staff presented the city’s preliminary 2026 budget guidance and departmental requests during a June 2 study session, asking the commission to consider personnel guidance, departmental operating requests and changes to the comprehensive fee schedule.

Personnel guidance and fiscal effects: Pack told commissioners the draft includes a proposed 2% cost‑of‑living adjustment (COLA) for designated employees effective Jan. 1, 2026, and a maximum 2% merit pool applied on individual anniversary dates. She provided staff estimates for the fiscal impact: in the general fund a 1% COLA would cost about $290,000 and a 1% merit pool about $110,400; overall across all funds a 1% COLA is approximately $361,800 and a 1% merit about $143,000. Pack said health insurance changes were not yet included pending consultant estimates and that departmental staffing requests were reviewed with guidance to “hold the line” on 2025 levels where feasible.

Budget posture and notable line items: the draft general fund showed roughly $57.5 million in projected revenues and $58.1 million in expenditures, a budget gap of about $640,000 — much of which staff identified as one‑time items (for example, a $500,000 placeholder for a comprehensive plan and a $120,000 placeholder for Ninth Street medians). Pack and Assistant City Manager (present) said they had worked with department heads multiple times to pare requests and avoid duplicative spending.

Fees and cost recovery: departments proposed changes to the comprehensive fee schedule. Highlights discussed in the session included: sanitation alley service proposed to increase from $19.75 to $21.25 per month (alley); additional cart monthly fee from $3 to $4; landfill tonnage from $48 to $50 per ton; ambulance/EMS fees adjusted to align with Medicare updates; parks/cemetery marker and permit fees increased roughly 12–12.5% (noted as unchanged for 7–8 years); and nuisance abatement administrative fee increased from $130 to $150 (15.38%). Pack said many of the proposed fee changes mirror supplier or regulatory cost increases or long intervals without adjustment.

Capital and enterprise funds: the Water/Wastewater fund showed drawdowns planned for long‑term capital projects; Pack noted the fund had been built up in prior years to support upcoming plant construction and a rate study would be presented later. Sanitation reported increased vehicle maintenance on aging automated trucks; staff told commissioners the replacement cycle for sanitation trucks is roughly seven years and new orders can take a year or more to be delivered.

Process and next steps: staff said they will return June 23 with the remaining non‑personnel funds, revenue neutral rate information after valuations (expected June 15), outside agency funding decisions and water/rate discussions. Pack emphasized that departments had been asked to produce both personnel‑included and personnel‑excluded figures to make tradeoffs clearer. Commissioners asked operational questions and received clarifications about line items and planned capital placeholders.

No formal budget adoption occurred; the session provided direction and numbers for staff to refine the draft budget for future decisions.