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Commission debates COLA, tax relief match and other FY26 budget items as manager presents trimmed estimate
Summary
City Manager Mr. Granham presented a trimmed FY26 budget estimate that includes a 1.5% COLA, funding to sustain a detective position, a full match to the county tax-relief program for qualifying residents, paratransit funding and debt for equipment purchases.
City Manager Mr. Granham presented a FY26 budget estimate incorporating department input and staff reductions that trims roughly $1 million from earlier drafts while preserving prioritized services and several new items.
Key items in the estimate included a proposed 1.5% cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for all employees at an estimated cost of $112,478 allocated across the general fund, solid waste and stormwater funds; funding to make permanent a detective position previously funded from a violent-crime incentive fund (estimated at ~$75,000); a city match to Hamilton County’s tax-relief program for qualified residents (total estimated match approximately $25,718, with $11,290 for residents over 65 and $14,427 for 100% disabled veterans); $30,000 budgeted to sustain paratransit service; $15,000 for on-call data-analyst services to support capital planning and revenue projection work; and planned debt financing for vehicle and equipment purchases ($230,000 general fund loan for pickup and tractor; $110,000 for solid waste pickups; $900,000 for a dump truck with attachments and secondary road paving).
The manager reported a projected fiscal-year-end fund balance of approximately $7.3 million and said staff trimmed the estimate to lower the projected use of fund balance relative to FY25. Commissioners discussed restoring part or all of a previously reduced COLA: the earlier draft proposed 2.5% but staff trimmed it to 1.5% to reduce projected fund-balance use. Staff provided arithmetic that each 1 percentage-point change in COLA would add about $61,200 to projected use of fund balance (the total across all personnel funds is closer to $75,000). Commissioners debated letting pay lag regionally versus protecting fund balance; some favored restoring one percentage point or half a percentage point and asked staff to present budget variants.
Other budget discussions: the detective position had been initially grant-funded for two years ($120,000 total) and the city intends to sustain the position with general funds; staff said paratransit serves qualified residents (frequently for medical trips) and the $30,000 line reflects subsidy requirements; staff noted the city is pursuing greater data maturity via analysts for capital planning and economic development uses. The commission asked staff to return a proposed FY26 budget with options that add back a half‑percent or full percentage point to the COLA so the commission can consider a first reading at its next meeting. No final budget vote occurred during the work session.
